Patients with acute coronary syndromes: optimal revascularisation is life saving - Parts I & II

Two very important sessions under the auspices of the Stent for Life initiative take place today Chaired by William Wijns and Dariusz Dudek respectively and will discuss the lifesaving indications of PCI in ACS and STEMI. Putting guidelines for optimal management of STEMI and non-STEMI disease into practice will be discussed. New data and opportunities will be explored in detail, including debate on the best use of pharmacological therapies such as antiplatelet and antithrombotic agents.

The importance of networking will be described with reference to deciding how counties, cities and regions should meet objectives when organising patient distribution to relevant centres. Having the right practical matters and logistics in place is essential to life-saving PCI in these conditions. During this first session there will be a Live case from Madrid and a Live in-a-box^TM case. In part II new approaches to thrombus management such as mechanical intervention on occluded vessels will be described and their contribution to safety and efficacy assessed. Optimising haemodynamic support in patients with large myocardial infarction will be explored in detail. In attempting to develop a consensus on therapy for ACS patients, there will be discussion of finding a balance between prevention of ischemic damage and bleeding risk.

We anticipate a lively debate on the treatment of non-culprit lesions in ACS and this will be addressed from both an interventional and surgical point of view. With over 50% of patients also displaying one or more nonculprit lesions this debate will ask when and how non-culprit lesions should be treated. There will be a Live case from Barcelona and a Live in-a-box case^TM presented during this session.

In summary, this two-part session will address the use of life-saving PCI in ACS patients with STEMI and non-STEMI in the context of new and existing therapies, with an emphasis on the recently launched Stent for Life initiative.