Objective: To assess the clinical ability of general practitioners to decide to give thrombolytic therapy to patients with suspected myocardial infarction and to assess the contribution of the electrocardiograph (ECG) to this decision-making process.
Setting: 7 practices on the North side of Glasgow and the coronary care unit of Stobhill General Hospital.
Subjects: 137 patients presenting with chest pain who required direct admission to the coronary care unit.
128 patients with acute myocardial infarction of duration 6 h or less were randomised in double-blind fashion to receive 30 U anistreplase over 5 min or 1.5 MU streptokinase over 1 h, both intravenously. Angiographic patency was assessed 90 min and 24 h from the start of therapy.
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