Reperfusion therapy for acute myocardial infarction: Concepts and controversies from inception to acceptance.

More than 20 years of misconceptions derailed acceptance of reperfusion therapy for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Cardiologists abandoned reperfusion for AMI using fibrinolytic therapy, explored in 1958, because they no longer attributed myocardial infarction to coronary thrombosis. Emergent aortocoronary bypass surgery, pioneered in 1968, remained controversial because of the misconception that hemorrhage into reperfused myocardium would result in infarct extension.