The year in cardiology 2014: acute coronary syndromes

This review provides an overview of key findings published in 2014 on the pathophysiology, early diagnosis, prognosis, and acute and longterm treatment of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). A perspective on future research is provided at the end. We did not report on the progress made with mechanical interventions as this topic will be covered in another review. As so many studies have been published on ACS and because of the restrictions imposed by the journal, the selected papers unavoidably reflect the interests and personal opinion of the authors to a certain extent. As in many other studies ACS covers all types of non-ST-segment elevation and STsegment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI and STEMI). Little data have been provided on unstable angina patients in recent years. The increasing use of high-sensitivity troponins (hsTn) makes the diagnosis of unstable angina very unusual if not impossible.