ST Elevation Infarction

PRESS RELEASE - ESC CONGRESS 2008 - ESC 2008 New Releases Guidelines

Date: 02 Sep 2008

Munich, Germany, Tuesday 2 September 2008:

The new 2008 ESC ST-segment-elevation acute myocardial infarction guidelines were approved by the ESC Guidelines Committee on August 19 2008 and will be presented for the first time at the Annual Congress in Munich on Monday September 1 2008.

Compared to the 2003 guidelines, important new recommendations have been formulated regarding:

1) the need for setting up networks of hospitals with different levels of technology using the same protocol and connected by an efficient ambulance service

2) the selection of primary PCI vs fibrinolytic therapy

3) the use of antithrombotic co-therapies with both primary PCI and fibrinolytis

and

4) secondary prevention

The Task Force members involved are: Frans Van de Werf, Chairperson (Belgium), Jeroen Bax (The Netherlands), Amadeo Betriu (Spain), Carina Blomstrom-Lundqvist (Sweden), Filippo Crea (Italy), Volkmar Falk (Germany), Gerasimos Filippatos (Greece), Keith Fox (United Kingdom), Kurt Huber (Austria), Adnan Kastrati (Germany), Annika Rosengren (Sweden), P. Gabriel Steg (France), Marco Tubaro (Italy), Freek Verheugt (The Netherlands), Franz Weidinger (Austria) and Michael Weis (Germany).

The Task Force aims to put these guidelines on the website of the ESC and the European Heart Journal within a few weeks. Publication in a printed issue of the journal will follow soon.

Authors: Professor F Van der Werf

Tel: +32 16 34 34 72

Fax: +32 16 343 467

E-mail: Frans.VandeWerf@uz.kuleuven.be

Notes to editor

This press release accompanies both a presentation and an ESC press conference given at the ESC Congress 2008. Written by the investigator himself/herself, this press release does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Society of Cardiology.