The contemporary management of acute myocardial infarction.

The contemporary management of acute myocardial infarction continues to evolve rapidly. The ultimate goal of therapy is timely, complete, and sustained myocardial reperfusion. There is a powerful time-dependent effect on mortality, and thus the balance between the time and likelihood of maximal reperfusion is crucial in deciding whether to use primary percutaneous balloon angioplasty or thrombolysis as the initial reperfusion strategy. Newer thrombolytic agents allow for equivalent coronary reperfusion compared with the standard accelerated alteplase (tPA) regimen with the advantage of easier dosing regimens. Low molecular weight heparin has been shown to be superior to unfractionated heparin and likely will be the standard of care in the near future. The use of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors has been shown to decrease the short- and long-term complication rates in patients with acute coronary syndromes treated medically and with percutaneous coronary interventions; however, the choice of the optimal agent and dosing regimen in various clinical settings remains controversial. Combination therapy with low-dose fibrinolytics, glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, and low molecular weight heparin, with or without subsequent early planned percutaneous coronary interventions, may provide the optimal strategy for maximal coronary reperfusion, but the results of large, randomized mortality trials currently underway need to be analyzed. Risk stratification will continue to play a major role in determining which patients should receive a specific therapy. The care of the patient with an acute myocardial infarction will continue to be a challenge requiring the proper selection from the vast pharmaceutic and interventional options available.