The Coronary-Care Unit: Necessity or Luxury?

Since the introduction of the coronary-care unit by Dr. Hughes Day a decade ago, there has been an enormous proliferation of such units throughout the United States. The widespread acceptance of the unit as the standard of treatment for patients with suspected or proved acute myocardial infarction has been based primarily on data, usually collected retrospectively, showing that such a facility leads to marked reduction of in-hospital mortality in such patients through early detection and treatment of life-threatening arrhythmias or sudden cardiac arrest. In view of these findings, possible factors contributing to establishment of coronary-care units may be fear on . . .