2007 Focused Update to the ACC/AHA Guidelines for the Management of Patients With ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction: Implications for Emergency Department Practice

The American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association have issued a “focused update” of their 2004 guidelines for the management of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Several of the issues addressed involve new data and new recommendations on treatment decisions that may be made in the emergency department. In this review, we present the new recommendations that are pertinent to emergency medicine practice and comment on their potential implementation into an evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach to the timely care of the STEMI patient.