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Table 2 Definitions of major adverse cardiac events [42]

From: The HEART score in predicting major adverse cardiac events in patients presenting to the emergency department with possible acute coronary syndrome: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Myocardial infarction

Colloquially known as a “heart attack”, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to a part of the heart, causing irreversible damage to the heart muscle.

Percutaneous coronary intervention

Non-surgical procedure used to treat narrowed coronary arteries of the heart found in coronary artery disease. Most commonly, a balloon catheter is inserted into a diseased coronary artery and inflated to relieve the narrowing. A stent can then be deployed to keep the vessel open.

Coronary artery bypass graft

Surgical procedure used to treat narrowed coronary arteries of the heart found in coronary artery disease. A redundant blood vessel is harvested from another part of the body and attached in such a way that a diseased coronary artery is bypassed.