Thrombolytic Therapy

WITH the introduction of coronary-care units in the 1960s and the ability to prevent and treat lethal arrhythmias, the mortality from acute myocardial infarction was reduced for the first time. Failure of the cardiac pump subsequently emerged as the principal cause of in-hospital death in patients with myocardial infarction. Unfortunately, the present treatment of pump failure with positive inotropic and vasoactive agents and with circulatory-assist devices has not improved the prognosis any further. In the late 1960s, it was thought that mortality from pump failure might be reduced by attempts to limit the quantity of jeopardized myocardium destined to undergo . . .