American College of Cardiology

BRAUNWALD ET AL., MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS WITH UNSTABLE ANGINA AND NON-ST-SEGMENT ELEVATION MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION UPDATE
http://www.acc.org/clinical/guidelines/unstable/update_index.htm

ACC/AHA 2002 Guideline Update for the Management of Patients With Unstable Angina and Non-ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Committee on the Management of Patients With Unstable Angina)

This is a Guideline Update of the 2000 Unstable Angina Guidelines. To highlight the changes, deleted text is indicated by strikeout, and revised text is presented in brown. A clean version of the document, with changes fully incorporated, is available for download and print.

Figure 1. Nomenclature of ACSs. Patients with ischemic discomfort may present with or without ST-segment elevation on the ECG. The majority of patients with ST-segment elevation (large arrows) ultimately develop a Q-wave AMI (QwMI), whereas a minority (small arrow) develop a non–Q-wave AMI (NQMI). Patients who present without ST-segment elevation are experiencing either UA or an NSTEMI. The distinction between these 2 diagnoses is ultimately made based on the presence or absence of a cardiac marker detected in the blood. Most patients with NSTEMI do not evolve a Q wave on the 12-lead ECG and are subsequently referred to as having sustained a non–Q-wave MI (NQMI); only a minority of NSTEMI patients develop a Q wave and are later diagnosed as having Q-wave MI. Not shown is Prinzmetal’s angina, which presents with transient chest pain and ST-segment elevation but rarely MI. The spectrum of clinical conditions that range from US to non–Q-wave AMI and Q-wave AMI is referred to as ACSs. Adapted from Antman EM, Braunwald E. Acute myocardial infarction. In: Braunwald EB, ed. Heart disease: a textbook of cardiovascular medicine. Philadelphia, PA: WB Saunders, 1997.