CURRENT CONCEPTS - THE MANAGEMENT OF COCAINE-ASSOCIATED MYOCARDIAL-ISCHEMIA

The use of cocaine has reached epidemic proportions. Over 30 percent of men and 20 percent of women between the ages of 26 and 34 have used cocaine at least once.1 Moreover, 23 million Americans have used cocaine at some time,1 and 5 million use it regularly.2 During the 1980s cocaine became the most frequently used illicit drug among patients presenting to hospital emergency departments.3–5 Chest pain is the most common cocaine-related medical problem6; it leads to the evaluation of more than 64,000 patients annually for possible myocardial ischemia. Of these patients, 57 percent are admitted to the. © 1995, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.