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Each year, more than 1 million patients are admitted to U.S. hospitals because of unstable angina and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (UA/NSTEMI). To help standardize the assessment and treatment of these patients, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association convened a task force to formulate a management guideline. This guideline, which was published in 2000 and updated in 2002, highlights recent medical advances and is a practical tool to help physicians provide medical care for patients with UA/NSTEMI. Management of suspected UA/NSTEMI has four components: initial evaluation and management; hospital care; coronary revascularization; and hospital discharge and post-hospital care. Part I of this two-part article discusses the first two components of management. During the initial evaluation, the history, physical examination, electrocardiogram, and cardiac biomarkers are used to determine the likelihood that the patient has UA/NSTEMI and to aid in risk assessment when the diagnosis is established. Hospital care consists of appropriate initial triage and monitoring. Medical treatment includes anti-ischemic therapy (oxygen, nitroglycerin, beta blocker), antiplatelet therapy (aspirin, clopidogrel, platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor), and antithrombotic therapy (heparin, low-molecular-weight heparin). (Am Fam Physician 2004;70:525-32 Copyright© 2004 American Academy of Family Physicians.)
The term "acute coronary syndrome" encompasses unstable angina and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (UA/NSTEMI) and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). UA/NSTEMI is the combination of two closely related clinical entities (i.e., a syndrome), whereas STEMI is a distinct clinical entity. UA/NSTEMI is characterized by an imbalance between myocardial oxygen supply and demand. Most often, the syndrome develops because of decreased myocardial perfusion resulting from coronary narrowing caused by nonocclusive thrombus formation subsequent to disruption of an atherosclerotic plaque. In contrast, STEMI results from an occlusive thrombus.
Each year, more than 5 million patients present to U.S. emergency departments with chest pain and related symptoms.1 Approximately 1.4 million of these patients are admitted for management of UA/NSTEMI.1 Because of the scope of the problem, it is important for family physicians to understand the diagnosis, risk assessment, and treatment of this syndrome.
To help standardize the assessment and treatment of patients with UA/NSTEMI, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) convened a task force to produce a management guideline. The ACC/AHA guideline, which was published in 20001 and...