Dear Colleagues,

 

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is still the main cause of death in the general population: approximately every 40 seconds, an American suffers from an acute myocardial infarction (MI). Worldwide, in 2015, there was an estimated 7.29 million cases of acute MI. There have been 8.92 million deaths due to IHD  in 2015. Of particular concern is that IHD age-standardized mortality showed less decline in the past five years than over the past 25 years. Trends in MI mortality have plateaued and are no longer declining for high-income regions. An explanation for this stagnation could be that networks, strategies, interventions, devices, and drugs for the treatment of MIs have been maximally instituted and optimized. Innovative approaches are necessary to achieve further improvements in patient outcomes following an MI. The aim of this special issue is to analyze and discuss the major unsolved issues involving MIs from basic research to new medical and interventional options, to provide the best management strategies. The invited papers focus on reperfusion injury (mechanisms and potential targets for treatment), left ventricle remodeling after an acute MI, concepts to improve the MI network, and timing and tools to achieve complete revascularization in patients with multivessel disease. Additional topics of interest are new anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents for the acute and chronic phase of an MI, as well as new devices for coronary revascularization. The target population are cardiologists managing MI patients both in the acute and chronic phase. Clinicians will have a complete overview regarding the main issues of the clinical management of MI patients and will be updated on potential current and future solutions to improve the prognosis of their patients.

 

Prof. Gianluca Campo

Guest Editor