Perspectives on acute coronary syndromes

The occurrence of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) represents a dramatic stage in the otherwise relatively slow and progressive course of coronary artery disease, bringing into perspective its life-threatening implications. The modern era of aggressive management of these syndromes was first introduced by the establishment of the coronary care unit, and later by the development of reperfusion therapies, which led, within two decades, to a reduction in death rates of ST segment elevation myocardial infarction from 30% or more to less than 10%. The insights gained into the pathophysiology of ACSs, combined with increasingly efficient risk stratification schemes in screening patients with non-ST segment ACS, have given a boost to the development of antithrombotic therapies. Acetylsalicylic acid, as well as the combination of acetylsalicylic acid and heparin with the addition of an intravenous glycoprotein IIb/IIIa antagonist and/or the addition of an ADP P2Y12 receptor blocker, when combined with an invasive strategy targeting revascularization of the culprit coronary lesion (when appropriate), have successfully reduced the rates of adverse clinical outcomes in non-ST segment elevation ACS from 25% to 10%. These rates, however, did not improve further during the past few years, while the number of such patients is increasing to now account for the majority of admissions to coronary care units. A new research focus in cardiology is emerging, following the discovery that culprit lesions may be multiple and multifocal in association with a more diffuse inflammatory state. New therapeutic frontiers are thus being suggested to control the most fundamental mechanisms involved in ACSs and related to inflammation and autoimmunity.