Acute coronary syndromes (ACS), i.e. patients presenting with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (non-STEMI) or unstable angina, are still a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United Kingdom and beyond. In spite of the enormous progress made in the last decades, the in hospital mortality has plateaued recently, and the event rate after the infarction is still high with one in 8 patients having a second event (i.e. death, myocardial infarction, heart failure, revascularization among others) within a year of follow-up.
After the acute event, risk stratification is important and will be come even more sophisticated than it currently is with the advent of anatomic risk scores (SYNTAX II Score), novel biomarkers and novel drugs allowing for more precise characterization of the patients individual risk and more tailored secondary prevention strategies (Precision Medicine).
Indeed, particularly the upcoming treatment strategies with bio-logicals (i.e. monoclonal antibodies, e.g. against PCSK9) and genetic tools (i.e. RNA interference, antisense technology) will require precise risk assessment for cost-effective use of these promising new tools.
It is anticipated that this study will help the investigator's to describe the heart attack population in a robust manner with a wealth of clinical data as well as blood samples for bio-markers.
