A major Duke-based initiative designed to speed up heart attack care in North Carolina is launching a second phase of development that could involve all 21 primary cardiac interventional facilities throughout the state and dozens of additional referral hospitals.

Heart attack patients in UK can't find a single cardiac rehabilitation programme in UK, which meets the minimum staffing levels depriving patients of life-saving heart care, shows the British Heart Foundation report.

Heart attack patients discontinuing statin medication following an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) increase their risk of dying over the next year.

Although we hoped that treating depression would result in an improved prognosis for heart attack patients, these studies have not provided much evidence to support this position: effects on depression itself have been minor and did not translate into cardiovascular benefits.

Simple and rapid blood tests have become the standard for the detection of myocardial infarction. Starting in the year 2000, recommendations by the European Society of Cardiology and other major cardiology societies worldwide have begun to state uniformly that a rise in cardiac troponins – sensitive and specific markers for dying cells in the heart - is a prerequisite for the clinical diagnosis of myocardial infarction.

Ultrasound imaging could help identify patients at high risk for a heart attack or other adverse cardiovascular events.

Lifesaving procedures to open blocked heart arteries could begin much sooner for heart attack patients if electrocardiograms were recorded before they arrive at the hospital and used to put treatment teams into action.

An implanted patch that delivers cells to damaged heart muscle may prevent heart failure after a heart attack.