Editorial

Non-ST Segment Elevation Acute Coronary Syndromes

Authors: Arun Kalyanasundaram, MD, MPH, James C. Blankenship, MD, Jamshid Shirani, MD

Abstract

Non-ST elevation (NSTE) acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a common cardiovascular diagnosis and includes a range of presentations with myocardial ischemia from unstable angina (UA) to NSTE acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Recent statistics give a conservative estimate of more than 1.5 million hospital discharges with a primary or secondary diagnosis of ACS components in 2003.1 This included nearly one million patients with AMI and 650,000 patients with UA.1 It is estimated that NSTE AMI constitutes between 55 to 70% of all diagnoses of AMI on discharge.2

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