Risk assessment of patients following non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome

Risk Assessment of Patients Following Non-ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction
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 * In patients with UA/NSTEMI noninvasive testing is done to identify ischemia and to identify patients at high risk for adverse events and direct them for coronary angiography and revascularization.


 * The ACC/AHA 2002 Guideline Update for the Management of Patients with UA/NSTEMI1 recommends an early invasive strategy in patients with any of several high-risk indicators and no serious comorbidities.

TABLE 3. Recommendations for Use of Radionuclide Testing for Risk Assessment/Prognosis in Patients With NSTEMI and UA

 * ECG indicates electrocardiography; LV, left ventricular; MPI, myocardial perfusion imaging; RNA, radionuclide angiography; SPECT, single-photon emission computed tomography.
 * From ACC/AHA 2002 Guideline Update for the Management of Patients with UA/NSTEMI

Noninvasive Risk Stratification
risk in the presence of either a high-risk treadmill score or severe resting LV dysfunction (LVEF less than 0.35). Reproduced from Table 23 in Gibbons RJ, Abrams J, Chatterjee K, et al. ACC/AHA 2002 guideline update for the management of patients with chronic stable angina: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Committee to Update the 1999 Guidelines for the Management of Patients With Chronic Stable Angina). 2002. Available at: www.acc.org/qualityandscience/clinical/
 * Although the published data are limited, patients with these findings will probably not be at low