[Emergency coronary care--successful, but unequaly distributed]

The need of acute coronary care is increasing because of an increase in the incidence of severe angina pectoris, and despite a reduction in that of acute myocardial infarction. Patients with acute myocardial infarction are characterised by continuously increasing age, lower mortality, and shorter hospitalisation. The improvement in acute care is related to increased use of expensive drugs, new diagnostic methods, and an increasing coronary revascularisation rate. However, there is still inequality in the utilisation of cardiac care, and in order to further enhance its quality and equality of utilisation, there is an emphatic need of common registries.