When Chest Pain Requires Quick Action in ER
WEDNESDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- Only one-third of the people who come to a hospital with the intense chest pain that doctors call acute coronary syndrome should be assessed for artery-opening procedures within a few hours, a new Canadian study finds.
The rest are at lower risk for a heart attack and won't be harmed by waiting a day or two, the researchers added.
There is often an issue about whether such assessment and treatment is needed quickly, said Dr. Shamir R. Mehta, director of interventional cardiology at McMaster University in Ontario and lead author of a report in the May 21 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "Settling this issue is very important, and that is why the study was done."
Acute coronary syndrome may mean "anything from a threatened heart attack all the way to a full-blown heart attack," Mehta said. "If it is not a full-blown heart attack, the patient may respond to medication, and we can wait a couple of days for it to stabilize."
The study included 3,031 people with acute coronary syndrome.
Add A New Comment
Add A New CommentComments
There are no comments yet. Be the first to get the conversation started.