New, Simpler Treatment Guidelines Could Save Heart Attack Patients

The original guidelines, issued by the American College ofCardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA), tellemergency department physicians how to recognize early symptoms ofheart attack, and what to do next.

The problem, said Brian Gibler, MD, chairman of UC'sDepartment of Emergency Medicine, is that navigating the daunting 95pages of the complete ACC/AHA guidelines probably leaves themunderused.

Now, in the August edition of the Annals of Emergency Medicine,Dr. Gibler and other national emergency medicine and cardiology expertsprovide a distilled review of the ACC/AHA guidelines.

"It's critical that physicians know how to determine whetheran emergency patient with chest pain is at high or low risk of a heartattack," Dr. Gibler said. "If used, the review will help physiciansdiagnose acute coronary events quicker, and provide faster treatmentthat may even prevent a heart attack or damage to the heart before ithappens."

Each year, more than 5.3 million patients are treated inhospital emergency departments for chest pains. The challenge, Dr.Gibler points out, is for doctors to quickly identify those who are athighest risk for a heart attack.

The Annals of Emergency Medicine is the official scientific journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Dr. Gibler's co-authors were Christopher Cannon, Brigham &Women's Hospital; Andra Blomkalns, University of Cincinnati; DouglasChar, Washington University; Barbara Drew, University of California - SanFrancisco; Judd Hollander, University of Pennsylvania; Allan Jaffe,Mayo Clinic; Robert Jesse, Department of Veterans Affairs; KristinNewby, Duke University; Magnus Ohman, University of North Carolina;Eric Peterson, Duke University; and Charles Pollack, University ofPennsylvania.