[Treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with streptokinase in Fredericia from 1967 to 1977].
Treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with streptokinase in Fredericia from 1967 to 1977. During these years 184 patients with AMI were treated with trombolytic therapy. At that time such treatment was not used anywhere else in Denmark, and only in relatively few places in other countries. The patient population, the treatment, the survival rate of the patients are described, and also other measures taken to better the prognosis of patients with acute heart diseases. These measures comprised the introduction of cardiac defibrillation in 1961, the establishment of an intensive care unit in 1965, and in 1970 ambulances with equipment for ECG monitoring transmitted to the hospital (telemetry) and defibrillators to be used by paramedical personnel in the ambulances. Trombolytic treatment of AMI was not generally used in Denmark before the late eighties. The reason for this delay is discussed.