[ESC guidelines 2020: acute coronary syndrome without persistent ST-segment elevation : What is new?]

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndrome without persistent ST-segment elevation (NSTE-ACS) published in August 2020, replace the former NSTE-ACS guidelines published in 2015. These updated guidelines have some relevant changes for the clinical practice, which include the diagnostic work-up, risk stratification, antithrombotic therapy, invasive or noninvasive coronary diagnostics and also long-term treatment. New sections deal with spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), myocardial infarction with nonobstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) and also newly introduced quality indicators for NSTE-ACS treatment. The diagnostic work-up using highly sensitive cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) assays is emphasized with the recommendation to use fast triage decisions that enable an early rule-in (no STEMI) or rule-out (NSTEMI probable) in the emergency room or chest pain unit. In antiplatelet therapy a greater individualization of the treatment concept is recommended based on the individual ischemic/thrombotic events and bleeding complications. Some new aspects were introduced for timing of invasive coronary angiography; however, principally the very high-risk group should still immediately undergo coronary angiography and the high-risk group should undergo an invasive angiography within 24 h. In risk stratification, the former intermediate risk group has been removed, instead it is now emphasized that low-risk patients should be treated similarly to patients with chronic coronary syndrome.