IMR Press / RCM / Volume 7 / Issue 1 / pii/1561344036491-417405124

Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine (RCM) is published by IMR Press from Volume 19 Issue 1 (2018). Previous articles were published by another publisher in Open Access under a CC-BY (or CC-BY-NC-ND) licence, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with MedReviews, LLC.

Open Access Review
ß-Blockers for the Post–Myocardial Infarction Patient: Current Clinical Evidence and Practical Considerations
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1 Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, UCLA Medical Center, The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2006, 7(1), 1–9;
Published: 30 March 2006
Abstract
ß-Blockers significantly decrease the risk of mortality in patients after myocardial infarction (MI). Furthermore, ß-blockers reduce the risk of reinfarction and mortality in both the immediate and long term after an MI. Guidelines recommend that post-MI patients should be started on ß-blocker therapy and continued indefinitely, unless absolutely contraindicated or not tolerated. Despite compelling evidence, many patients are not prescribed ß-blockers after a myocardial event. In addition, some patients are treated with agents whose long-term use has not been shown to be effective. This article discusses practical implementation of ß-blockers, provides the rationale for choosing specific ß-blockers, and presents protocols for initiating or switching to evidence-based therapies in the acute and chronic post-MI period.
Keywords
Myocardial infarction
β-blockers
Left ventricular dysfunction
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