Coronary artery disease.
In the past 20 years or more the death rate from acute myocardial infarction has remained at 30 to 40 per cent in most large hospitals. It is obvious from reports now coming out in the literature that many progressive centers are decreasing their mortality rate primarily by saving the heart that is a good pump, that has a good myocardium, by preventing arrythmias and hence preventing cardiac arrest - a purely electrical abnormality. The resulting decrease in mortality rate is about one-third, or somewhat better. If we are to offer good coronary care in the future we should be working towards monitoring patients in medium and perhaps even smaller hospitals (wherever myocardial infarction patients are admitted), and lowering the death rate from myocardial infarction as a result.
Fuller
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