Canadian Cardiovascular Society Working Group: Providing a perspective on the 2007 focused update of the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association 2004 guidelines for the management of ST elevation myocardial infarction

The present CCS CWG document has summarized key highlights from the 2007 focused update of the ACC/AHA STEMI guidelines and placed them within the context of the Canadian health care system. Discussion regarding national reporting of time to treatment initiated from first medical contact, recommendations for implementation of systems approaches to STEMI care, appropriate transfer of remote patients to tertiary care PCI centres for primary, rescue and elective PCI, and the importance of continuous quality improvement programs within the Canadian health care environment were emphasized. The CWG does not intend for this document to cover the spectrum of issues related to STEMI. For that, we refer our colleagues to the complete 2004 ACC/AHA STEMI guidelines and the 2007 focused update to which we have provided a perspective (1,3).