ABSTRACT
Coronary artery disease remains the principal cause of death in the United States.1 Acute coronary syndromes (ACS), meant to include unstable angina and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) but not including, for the purposes of this chapter, ST elevation myocardial infarction (MI), account for more than 1.5 million hospitalizations per year in the USA alone.2 The frequency of death and non-fatal MI in the year after admission is at least 6-8%.3,4
Therefore early identification, risk stratification and aggressive treatment are of great importance in the management of this common entity.
