Thrombolytic Therapy for Elderly Patients

Abstract

The elderly, particularly the very elderly, are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population.¹ They account for over 60 percent of the deaths attributed to myocardial infarction² and provide a challenging group of patients in which to develop standards for the use of myocardial reperfusion therapy. In the important clinical trials of intravenous thrombolysis begun in the mid-1980s, investigators in the United States usually excluded patients over the age of 75. Fortunately, some European investigators had the insight to eschew an age ceiling in their studies, including the study of the Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Streptochinasi nell'Infarto Miocardico . . .