Current treatment and future prospects for the management of acute coronary syndromes

Abstract

The impact of ischaemic heart disease on the burden of cardiovascular disease continues to escalate worldwide. • although international statistics suggest a levelling off in Western world, in the less industrialised parts of the world the effects of this diases are only beginning to be documented, nonetheless, rapid advances have been made in the diagnosis and management of the acute coronary sydromes (the term which encompasses the protean clinical manifestations of the ischaemic process). The therapeutic strategies discussed in this article cover two broad subjects that have been found to be critical in the evolution of the disease:- i. interfering with the haemostatic balance by retarding the thrombotic process; ii. modifying local and systemic vasoconstricting stimuli.