Pathophysiology and Treatment of Acute Myocardial Ischemia and Infarction

Atherosclerotic vascular disease has been present in humans for thousands of years. Atherosclerotic lesions were identified in Egyptian mummies dating as early as the 15th century B.c. In the 19th century, researchers speculated that arterial wall injury may cause an inflammatory response, resulting in atherosclerotic lesions (1). By the early 1900s investigators had proposed a correlation among the degree of atheroscle-rotic lesions, acute myocardial infarction (AMI)*, and stroke (2). The prevention and treatment of coronary artery atherogenesis is a major public health concern today (3).