[Quantitative evaluation of myocardial ischemia using imaging methods].
Secondary prevention of myocardial infarction includes all measures likely to reduce morbidity and mortality after the infarction. It is a highly heterogeneous concept applied to a highly heterogeneous disease. The natural history of myocardial infarction, which must be known to determine the frequency of critical events and hence devise a trial, is incomplete particularly since treatment capable of altering this history (aorto-coronary bypass, thrombolysis) have been introduced. Future trials in secondary prevention of myocardial infarction must concentrate on such important questions as: can the possibilities of reperfusion be extended as regards the acute phase, and which preventive measures are useful to patients at high risk post-infarction? The A.P.S.I. study (acetolol in the secondary prevention of myocardial infarction) is an example of study aimed at answering the second question.