Secondary prevention: improving outcomes following myocardial infarction

8] This corresponds to the prevention of six cases of non-fatal heart failure per 1000 patients treated. 1 11 Unexpectedly, the benefit of ACE inhibitors was achieved very early after the start of treatment; 239 fewer deaths were observed during the first 30 days in the group receiving ACE inhibitors than among those patients allocated to control. Of these 239 deaths, 200 were saved in the first week after the beginning of treatment and the onset of symptoms. This means that more than 80% of the benefit achieved with this strategy was achieved in the first week after the onset of MI symptoms. ong term follow up data from the GISSI-3 trial show that the early benefit of ACE inhibitors was maintained over a long period of time.