[Acute myocardial infarction: what is new?].

Current recommendations on the management of acute myocardial infarction and the use of thrombolysis are reviewed.

Early increase of von Willebrand factor predicts adverse outcome in unstable coronary artery disease: beneficial effects of enoxaparin. French Investigators of the ESSENCE Trial.

Background: The pathogenesis of unstable angina and non-Q-wave myocardial infarction is still poorly understood, and early evaluation of prognosis remains difficult. We therefore studied the predictive value of 5 biological indicators of inflammation, thrombogenesis, vasoconstriction, and myocardial necrosis, and we examined the effects of enoxaparin and unfractionated heparin on these markers after 48 hours of treatment.

Methods And Results: Sixty-eight patients with unstable angina or non-Q-wave myocardial infarction randomized in the international ESSENCE trial participated in this French substudy.

[Detection of disease of the anterior interventricular artery by 2-dimensional echocardiography in acute inferior infarction. Comparison with the electrocardiographic data].

The authors report their experience of 2D echocardiography in the acute stage of myocardial infarction. One hundred patients, 60 men and 40 women, aged 60 +/- 4.5 years (range 32 to 69 years) were admitted to hospital with an uncomplicated inferior myocardial infarction and underwent 2D echocardiography on admission and coronary angiography 15 days later.