
It is important to make the diagnosis quickly, as patients benefit significantly from early treatment. Therefore, the diagnosis of ACS is felt to be difficult to exclude in the early stage of the diagnostic process. However, absence of such abnormalities doesn’t exclude ACS. Regarding patients with ACS, the diagnosis is confirmed in the vast majority of cases where significant ECG changes such as STEMI and/or increased levels of myocardial markers in plasma are present. Awareness of these costs as well as treatment risks is necessary before considering a certain strategy for the individual patient. With the population’s increasing age and advancing medical techniques, healthcare costs are a critical issue in many countries. In addition, this causes the occupation of hospital beds through admission of such patients and associated increase in medical costs. Clearly, when treated as ACS, the latter will be prone to unnecessary risks of various treatments, including the side effects of medication or radiation. These patients may be discharged immediately with minimal testing or intervention. The challenge in the ED is not only to identify patients at the highest risk, but also to identify patients with non-urgent diseases or even the absence of disease. A variety of other diseases may mimic ACS, such as pleural and pericardial irritations, gastro-intestinal reflux, pulmonary embolism, hyperventilation, musculoskeletal pain and cholecystitis. However, STEMI patients represent only a small percentage of all chest pain patients in this setting. In a number of cases, a diagnosis can be made quickly, in particular in case of ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI). An acute coronary syndrome (ACS) needs to be distinguished from a variety of other cardiac and non cardiac diseases that may cause chest pain. The HEART score facilitates risk stratification of chest pain patients in the ED.Ĭhest pain is one of the most common reasons for patients to present to the emergency department (ED).
#Timi risk score for acs free
The HEART score was validated in a retrospective multicenter study and proved to be a strong predictor of event free survival on one hand and potentially life threatening cardiac events on the other hand. The more recently developed HEART score is specifically designed to stratify all chest pain patients in the ED. An evidence-based systematic stratification and policy for these patients does not currently exist. The vast majority of patients with chest pain due to causes other than ACS were not evaluated in these trials. However, none of these risk scores has been used in the identification of an ACS in the emergency setting. The PURSUIT, TIMI, GRACE and FRISC risk scores are well validated with this respect. An acute coronary syndrome (ACS) needs to be distinguished from a variety of other cardiac and non-cardiac diseases that may cause chest pain.įor patients with confirmed ACS, several scoring methods can be applied in order to distinguish patients in the coronary care unit who may benefit most from therapies. Absolute criteria for Acute Coronary Syndrome without ST elevation (NSTE-ACS) are lacking. Chest pain is a common reason for presentation to the emergency department (ED).
