Optimal Medical Therapy Post-AMI

• The management of an acute myocardial infarction can be divided into four phases: (a) The initial acute ischaemia causes severe prolonged chest pain when the patient is rushed to a Coronary or Intensive Care Unit; (b) Within the next few hours as ischaemia changes into infarction, the aim at this step is to restore blood flow in the occluded artery by thrombolysis or by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI); (c) Next, the infarct is established and the left ventricle undergoes early remodeling; (d) Finally, follows the post-AMI post-hospital phase when continued left ventricular remodeling takes place• The therapeutic management of each of these steps can be optimized using appropriate medical therapy including antiplatelet and antithrombotic therapy, beta-blockers, ACE-inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, lipid-lowering drugs, aldosterone antagonists, omega-3 fatty acids and so on.