Updated Heart Attack Treatment Guidelines
This week the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology have published updated treatment guidelines for heart attacks (or, as the journal article titled it, “Update of the Clinical Competence Statement on Cardiac Interventional Procedures”). The entire update is currently available in full from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) via this link (technical). According to Reuters Health, which reported on this update, the guidelines focus on identifying patients at risk early and the right treatment. In patients with “low risk”, medication therapy is recommended, and tests of cardiac functions are suggested. In patients with “high risk” intervention including angioplasty is recommended.
