Acute coronary syndromes: Risk stratification and initial management

For patients who have acute coronary syndromes (ACS), risk stratification is key to initiating appropriate treatment. For ST-segment elevation MI, immediate reperfusion therapy is needed, and thus rapid identification of ST elevation on the ECG is critical. Then, having a standardized protocol for rapid treatment-with either primary percutaneous coronary intervention or thrombolysis-is critical. For unstable angina/non-ST elevation ACS, after first identifying the patients who have a higher likelihood of actually having an ACS (as opposed to noncardiac chest pain) stratification to high versus lower risk is needed to choose appropriate therapies. Thus, it is important for risk stratification to be a central part of all management of patients who have ACS.