ABSTRACT
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in Western industrialised societies, with UK mortality remaining among the highest in the world (DOH, 1999), so the Department of Health (DOH 2000c) issued aggressive targets of
■ call to needle time 60 minutes ■ door to needle time 20 minutes (since April 2003)
for people suffering from myocardial infarction. Often confusing and conflicting classification of myocardial infarction has
been simplified by the classification of Acute Coronary Syndromes.
