Together with the spectacular achievements of the surgeons, there have
one of the most serious threats to life and health in all advanced and developed
nations. While we have not yet succeeded in curing it, it has been possible to cut
the danger of a coronary attack down to half what it was at one time. This has
been achieved by a completely new technique of management, involving the use
of drugs, sophisticated nursing and electrical stimulation, which is known by
the name of intensive.coronary care.
Coronary care units may mean the difference between life and death to
certain patients. Under the system, electronic monitoring of the heart gives a
detailed picture of the damage to the function of the heart. It enables the
physician to control irregularities of the beat by giving the heart electric
shocks which substitute for the normal impulses which have been
temporarily stopped by the disease. He is also able to use drugs, such as
lignocaine and atropine, to control disturbances of beat and rhythm which
would otherwise lead to heart failure and death.
The coronary care principle has been extended to ambulances which,
in many cases, are equipped with apparatus for resuscitation. Research is in
progress as to the best ways of educating the public in methods of
resuscitating heart attack victims.