Currently (2024-2025) approximately 805,000 Americans visit the Emergency Department of hospitals every year, presenting with sudden onset chest pain (angina), defined by medical science as acute coronary syndrome (ACS), involving problems with blood flow (flow reserve) through the arteries of the heart.

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Of these roughly 605,000 will be first time visits.

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Another 1.2 million Americans will be hospitalized for ACS.

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For half of all Americans their first warning sign of coronary artery disease (CAD) will be their first heart attack - damage to the heart.

 

If they are unfortunate enough that this first heart attack (myocardial infarction) is associated with a rhythm problem, they may experience sudden cardiac death - cardiac arrest - resulting in inadequate circulation of blood throughout the body resulting from a heart that no longer has a rhythm conducive to life.

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Cardiac arrest (when the heart stops and CPR begins) and myocardial infarction (when part of the heart is damaged), is the number one cause of death world-wide. It is the number one cause of death in both men and women in the United States.

 

So it should come as no surprise to anyone that patients presenting to the Emergency Department with chest pain, suddenly get admitted for evaluation - because minutes make the difference between life and death.