Adjunctive therapies in the treatment of acute coronary syndromes.

Survival after myocardial infarction has been improving steadily in recent decades, in part because of more effective adjunctive medical therapies. However, the issue of underutilization of effective medical therapies remains. Adjunctive therapy for acute myocardial infarction should include aspirin, beta-adrenergic blocking agents, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and lipid-lowering agents, all of which improve survival in the treatment and secondary prevention of myocardial infarction. This review presents the current knowledge supporting the use of specific adjunctive pharmacologic agents and also discusses the current status of other agents that are emerging or controversial.