While at the present time an exact definition of the preinfarction syndrome or impending myocardial infarction is imprecise, there are certain guide lines which enable the physician to recognize that his patient is on a collision course with a serious and life-threatening event. Hurst and Logue have provided working definitions for the preinfarction syndrome clinically. They feel that patients experiencing increasing anginal episodes at rest, both in frequency and severity, or angina of long duration poorly responsive to medication, along with the onset of angina for the first time, comprise a group in the spectrum of coronary artery disease entitled the "preinfarction syndrome" or an "impending infarction."
This definition is somewhat liberal and imprecise. An attempt to make this more precise and to more clearly define the preinfarction syndrome might, in our opinion, be best considered if one can establish three groups of criteria. The criteria just mentioned would establish