Guidelines of the Spanish society of cardiology in acute myocardial infarction

In the recent years, new possibilities have emerged in the diagnosis and management of acute myocardial infarction with ST segment elevation and its complications. Moreover, a deep transformation has taken place in the health care system organization, particulary in aspects related to care of patients presenting non-traumatic chest pain, both in pre-hospital and hospital areas. All these issues warrant a consensus document in Spain dealing with the role that these important changes should play in the whole management of myocardial infarction patients. This document revises and updates all the main clinical issues of acute myocardial infarction patients from the moment they contact with the health care system outside the hospital until they return home, after staying at the coronary care unit and the general hospitalization ward. All those aspects are considered not only in the uncomplicated myocardial infarction but also in the complicated one. This review also includes a set of recomendations on structural and organisational aspects, mainly referred to the prehospital and emergency levels.