Following a heart attack, nitrates, when taken for two days, and ACE-inhibitors decrease the risk of death. Other medications include:

Aspirin is continued indefinitely, as well as another antiplatelet agent such as clopidogrel or ticagrelor ("dual antiplatelet therapy" or DAPT) for up to twelve months. If someone has another medical condition that requires anticoagulation (e.g. with warfarin) this may need to be adjusted based on risk of further cardiac events as well as bleeding risk. In those who have had a stent, more than 12 months of clopidogrel plus aspirin does not affect the risk of death.

Beta blocker therapy such as metoprolol or carvedilol is recommended to be started within 24 hours, provided there is no acute heart failure or heart block. The dose should be increased to the highest tolerated. Contrary to what was long believed, the use of beta blockers does not appear to affect the risk of death, possibly because other treatments for MI have improved. When beta blocker medication is given within the first 24–72 hours of a STEMI no lives are saved. However, 1 in 200 people were prevented from a repeat heart attack, and another 1 in 200 from having an abnormal heart rhythm. Additionally, for 1 in 91 the medication causes a temporary decrease in the heart's ability to pump blood.

ACE inhibitor therapy should be started within 24 hours, and continued indefinitely at the highest tolerated dose. This is provided there is no evidence of worsening kidney failure, high potassium, low blood pressure, or known narrowing of the renal arteries. Those who cannot tolerate ACE inhibitors may be treated with an angiotensin II receptor antagonist.

Statin therapy has been shown to reduce mortality and subsequent cardiac events, and should be commenced with the aim of lowering LDL cholesterol. Other medications, such as ezetimibe, may also be added with this goal in mind.

Aldosterone antagonists (spironolactone or eplerenone) may be used if there is evidence of left ventricular dysfunction after an MI, ideally after beginning treatment with an ACE inhibitor.

If PCI cannot be performed within 90 to 120 minutes in STEMI then fibrinolysis, preferably within 30 minutes of arrival to hospital, is recommended. If a person has had symptoms for 12 to 24 hours evidence for effectiveness of thrombolysis is less and if they have had symptoms for more than 24 hours it is not recommended. Thrombolysis involves the administration of medication that activates the enzymes that normally dissolve blood clots. These medications include tissue plasminogen activator, reteplase, streptokinase, and tenecteplase. Thrombolysis is not recommended in a number of situations, particularly when associated with a high risk of bleeding or the potential for problematic bleeding, such as active bleeding, past strokes or bleeds into the brain, or severe hypertension. Situations in which thrombolysis may be considered, but with caution, include recent surgery, use of anticoagulants, pregnancy, and proclivity to bleeding. Major risks of thrombolysis are major bleeding and intracranial bleeding. Pre-hospital thrombolysis reduces time to thrombolytic treatment, based on studies conducted in higher income countries, however it is unclear whether this has an impact on mortality rates.

Aggressive risk factor modification is required for effective treatment of microvascular angina where exercise plays a major role. Several other treatment strategies including b-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, ranolazine, l-arginine, statin drugs and potentially estrogen replacement therapy have been shown to relieve anginal symptoms as well as improve vascular function. Nitrates may be effective for symptom relief. Further studies are required to determine whether specific treatments are associated with improved survival as well as decreased symptoms.

Coronary ischemia can be treated but not cured.

By changing lifestyle, further blockages can be prevented. A change in lifestyle, mixed with prescribed medication, can improve health.

Nitroglycerin can be used immediately to widen the coronary arteries and help increase blood flow to the heart. In addition, nitroglycerin causes peripheral venous and artery dilation reducing cardiac preload and afterload. These reductions allow for decreased stress on the heart and therefore lower the oxygen demand of the heart's muscle cells.

Antiplatelet drugs such as aspirin and clopidogrel can help reduce the progression of atherosclerotic plaque formation, as well as combining these with an anticoagulant such as a low molecular weight heparin.

It is recommended that blood pressure typically be reduced to less than 140/90 mmHg. The diastolic blood pressure however should not be lower than 60 mmHg. Beta blockers are recommended first line for this use.

The most specific medicine to treat angina is nitroglycerin. It is a potent vasodilator that decreases myocardial oxygen demand by decreasing the heart's workload. Beta blockers and calcium channel blockers act to decrease the heart's workload, and thus its requirement for oxygen. Nitroglycerin should not be given if certain inhibitors such as sildenafil, tadalafil, or vardenafil have been taken within the previous 12 hours as the combination of the two could cause a serious drop in blood pressure. Treatments for angina are balloon angioplasty, in which the balloon is inserted at the end of a catheter and inflated to widen the arterial lumen. Stents to maintain the arterial widening are often used at the same time. Coronary bypass surgery involves bypassing constricted arteries with venous grafts. This is much more invasive than angioplasty.

The main goals of treatment in angina pectoris are relief of symptoms, slowing progression of the disease, and reduction of future events, especially heart attacks and death. Beta blockers (e.g., carvedilol, propranolol, atenolol) have a large body of evidence in morbidity and mortality benefits (fewer symptoms, less disability and longer life) and short-acting nitroglycerin medications have been used since 1879 for symptomatic relief of angina. Calcium channel blockers (such as nifedipine (Adalat) and amlodipine), isosorbide mononitrate and nicorandil are vasodilators commonly used in chronic stable angina. A new therapeutic class, called If inhibitor, has recently been made available: Ivabradine provides pure heart rate reduction leading to major anti-ischemic and antianginal efficacy. ACE inhibitors are also vasodilators with both symptomatic and prognostic benefit. Statins are the most frequently used lipid/cholesterol modifiers, which probably also stabilize existing atheromatous plaque. Low-dose aspirin decreases the risk of heart attack in patients with chronic stable angina, and was part of standard treatment. However, in patients without established cardiovascular disease, the increase in hemorrhagic stroke and gastrointestinal bleeding offsets any benefits and it is no longer advised unless the risk of myocardial infarction is very high.

Exercise is also a very good long-term treatment for the angina (but only particular regimens - gentle and sustained exercise rather than intense short bursts), probably working by complex mechanisms such as improving blood pressure and promoting coronary artery collateralisation.

Though sometimes used by patients, evidence does not support the use of Traditional Chinese Herbal Products (THCP) for angina

Identifying and treating risk factors for further coronary heart disease is a priority in patients with angina. This means testing for elevated cholesterol and other fats in the blood, diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure), and encouraging smoking cessation and weight optimization.

The calcium channel blocker nifedipine prolongs cardiovascular event- and procedure-free survival in patients with coronary artery disease. New overt heart failures were reduced by 29% compared to placebo; however, the mortality rate difference between the two groups was statistically insignificant.

There are a number of treatment options for coronary artery disease:

- Lifestyle changes

- Medical treatment – drugs (e.g., cholesterol lowering medications, beta-blockers, nitroglycerin, calcium channel blockers, etc.);

- Coronary interventions as angioplasty and coronary stent;

- Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)

By increasing physical activity, it is possible to manage body weight, reduce blood pressure, and relieve stress.

The Center for Disease Control recommends 30 minutes of physical activity a day.

Instead of 30 minutes a day at one time, short bursts of physical activity for 8–10 minutes three times a day are also suitable. Exercising this way can reduce the risk of getting heart disease or coronary ischemia, if it is performed at moderate intensity.

Restoring adequate blood flow to the heart muscle in people with heart failure and significant coronary artery disease is strongly associated with improved survival, some research showing up to 75% survival rates over 5 years. A stem cell study indicated that using autologous cardiac stem cells as a regenerative approach for the human heart (after a heart attack) has great potential.

American Heart Association practice guidelines indicate (ICD) implantable cardioverter-defibrillator use in those with ischemic cardiomyopathy (40 days post-MI) that are (NYHA) New York Heart Association functional class I. LVEF of >30% is often used to differentiate primary from ischemic cardiomyopathy, and a prognostic indicator. At the same time, people who undergo ventricular restoration on top of coronary artery bypass show improved postoperative ejection fraction as compared to those treated with only coronary artery bypass surgery. Severe cases are treated with heart transplantation.

For patients in acute heart failure, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and beta blockers, are considered mainstays of heart failure treatment. But use of beta blockers specifically for takotsubo cardiomyopathy is controversial, because they may confer no benefit.

The treatment of takotsubo cardiomyopathy is generally supportive in nature, for it is considered a transient disorder. Treatment is dependent on whether patients experience heart failure or acute hypotension and shock. In many individuals, left ventricular function normalizes within two months. Aspirin and other heart drugs also appear to help in the treatment of this disease, even in extreme cases. After the patient has been diagnosed, and myocardial infarction (heart attack) ruled out, the aspirin regimen may be discontinued, and treatment becomes that of supporting the patient.

While medical treatments are important to address the acute symptoms of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, further treatment includes lifestyle changes. It is important that the individual stay physically healthy while learning and maintaining methods to manage stress, and to cope with future difficult situations.

Although the symptoms of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy usually go away on their own and the condition completely resolves itself within a few weeks, some serious complications can happen that must be treated. These most commonly include congestive heart failure and very low blood pressure, and less commonly include blood clotting in the apex of the left ventricle, irregular heart beat, and tearing of the heart wall.

After return of heart function, there has been a moderately higher risk of death in the hospital when compared to MI patients without PVF. Whether this still holds true with the recent changes in treatment strategies of earlier hospital admission and immediate angioplasty with thrombus removal is unknown. PVF does not affect the long-term prognosis.

Keeping blood pressure below 140/90 mmHg is recommended. Anticoagulation can prevent recurrent ischemic strokes. Among people with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, anticoagulation can reduce stroke by 60% while antiplatelet agents can reduce stroke by 20%. However, a recent meta-analysis suggests harm from anticoagulation started early after an embolic stroke. Stroke prevention treatment for atrial fibrillation is determined according to the CHA2DS2–VASc score. The most widely used anticoagulant to prevent thromboembolic stroke in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation is the oral agent warfarin while a number of newer agents including dabigatran are alternatives which do not require prothrombin time monitoring.

Anticoagulants, when used following stroke, should not be stopped for dental procedures.

If studies show carotid artery stenosis, and the person has a degree of residual function on the affected side, carotid endarterectomy (surgical removal of the stenosis) may decrease the risk of recurrence if performed rapidly after stroke.

Treatment is varied depending upon the nature of the case. In severe cases, coronary artery bypass surgery is performed to redirect blood flow around the affected area. Drug-eluting stents and thrombolytic drug therapy are less invasive options for less severe cases.

The survival of PVF largely depends on the promptness of defibrillation. The success rate of prompt defibrillation during monitoring is currently higher than 95%. It is estimated that the success rate decreases by 10% for each additional minute of delay.

Carotid endarterectomy or carotid angioplasty can be used to remove atherosclerotic narrowing of the carotid artery. There is evidence supporting this procedure in selected cases. Endarterectomy for a significant stenosis has been shown to be useful in preventing further strokes in those who have already had one. Carotid artery stenting has not been shown to be equally useful. People are selected for surgery based on age, gender, degree of stenosis, time since symptoms and the person's preferences. Surgery is most efficient when not delayed too long —the risk of recurrent stroke in a patient who has a 50% or greater stenosis is up to 20% after 5 years, but endarterectomy reduces this risk to around 5%. The number of procedures needed to cure one patient was 5 for early surgery (within two weeks after the initial stroke), but 125 if delayed longer than 12 weeks.

Screening for carotid artery narrowing has not been shown to be a useful test in the general population. Studies of surgical intervention for carotid artery stenosis without symptoms have shown only a small decrease in the risk of stroke. To be beneficial, the complication rate of the surgery should be kept below 4%. Even then, for 100 surgeries, 5 patients will benefit by avoiding stroke, 3 will develop stroke despite surgery, 3 will develop stroke or die due to the surgery itself, and 89 will remain stroke-free but would also have done so without intervention.

Dressler syndrome is best treated with high dose aspirin. In some resistant cases, corticosteroids can be used but are not preferred (avoided) in first month due to the high frequency of impaired ventricular healing leading to increased rate of ventricular rupture. NSAIDs though once used to treat Dressler syndrome, are less advocated and should be avoided in patients with ischemic heart disease. One NSAID in particular, indomethacin, can inhibit new collagen deposition thus impairing the healing process for the infarcted region. NSAIDS should only be used in cases refractory to aspirin. Heparin in Dressler syndrome should be avoided because it can lead to hemorrhage into the pericardial sac leading to tamponade. The only time heparin could be used with pericarditis is with coexisting acute MI in order to prevent further thrombus formation.

Depending on the type of cardiogenic shock, treatment involves infusion of fluids, or in shock refractory to fluids, inotropic medications. In case of an abnormal heart rhythm several anti-arrhythmic agents may be administered, e.g. adenosine.

Positive inotropic agents (such as dobutamine or milrinone), which enhance the heart's pumping capabilities, are used to improve the contractility and correct the low blood pressure. Should that not suffice an intra-aortic balloon pump (which reduces workload for the heart, and improves perfusion of the coronary arteries) or a left ventricular assist device (which augments the pump-function of the heart) can be considered. Finally, as a last resort, if the person is stable enough and otherwise qualifies, heart transplantation, or if not eligible an artificial heart, can be placed. These invasive measures are important tools- more than 50% of patients who do not die immediately due to cardiac arrest from a lethal abnormal heart rhythm and live to reach the hospital (who have usually suffered a severe acute myocardial infarction, which in itself still has a relatively high mortality rate), die within the first 24 hours. The mortality rate for those still living at time of admission who suffer complications (among others, cardiac arrest or further abnormal heart rhythms, heart failure, cardiac tamponade, a ruptured or dissecting aneurysm, or another heart attack) from cardiogenic shock is even worse around 85%, especially without drastic measures such as ventricular assist devices or transplantation.

Cardiogenic shock may be treated with intravenous dobutamine, which acts on β receptors of the heart leading to increased contractility and heart rate.

After an AMI, people should be treated to prevent LVT formation. Aspirin plus an oral anticoagulant such as warfarin are suggested for individuals at risk for thromboembolic events. Anticoagulants are also shown to reduce the risk of embolisms when a thrombus is already formed. Heparin, an injectable, fast-acting anticoagulant, is effective in high doses for preventing LVT formation after AMI.

In last decade, similar to myocardial infarction treatment, thrombolytic drugs were introduced in the therapy of cerebral infarction. The use of intravenous rtPA therapy can be advocated in patients who arrive to stroke unit and can be fully evaluated within 3 h of the onset.

If cerebral infarction is caused by a thrombus occluding blood flow to an artery supplying the brain, definitive therapy is aimed at removing the blockage by breaking the clot down (thrombolysis), or by removing it mechanically (thrombectomy). The more rapidly blood flow is restored to the brain, the fewer brain cells die. In increasing numbers of primary stroke centers, pharmacologic thrombolysis with the drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), is used to dissolve the clot and unblock the artery.

Another intervention for acute cerebral ischaemia is removal of the offending thrombus directly. This is accomplished by inserting a catheter into the femoral artery, directing it into the cerebral circulation, and deploying a corkscrew-like device to ensnare the clot, which is then withdrawn from the body. Mechanical embolectomy devices have been demonstrated effective at restoring blood flow in patients who were unable to receive thrombolytic drugs or for whom the drugs were ineffective, though no differences have been found between newer and older versions of the devices. The devices have only been tested on patients treated with mechanical clot embolectomy within eight hours of the onset of symptoms.

Angioplasty and stenting have begun to be looked at as possible viable options in treatment of acute cerebral ischaemia. In a systematic review of six uncontrolled, single-center trials, involving a total of 300 patients, of intra-cranial stenting in symptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis, the rate of technical success (reduction to stenosis of <50%) ranged from 90-98%, and the rate of major peri-procedural complications ranged from 4-10%. The rates of restenosis and/or stroke following the treatment were also favorable. This data suggests that a large, randomized controlled trial is needed to more completely evaluate the possible therapeutic advantage of this treatment.

If studies show carotid stenosis, and the patient has residual function in the affected side, carotid endarterectomy (surgical removal of the stenosis) may decrease the risk of recurrence if performed rapidly after cerebral infarction. Carotid endarterectomy is also indicated to decrease the risk of cerebral infarction for symptomatic carotid stenosis (>70 to 80% reduction in diameter).

In tissue losses that are not immediately fatal, the best course of action is to make every effort to restore impairments through physical therapy, cognitive therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and exercise.

There are also surgical procedures for removal of a thrombus (thrombectomy).

The treatment for myocardial rupture is supportive in the immediate setting and surgical correction of the rupture, if feasible. A certain small percentage of individuals do not seek medical attention in the acute setting and survive to see the physician days or weeks later. In this setting, it may be reasonable to treat the rupture medically and delay or avoid surgery completely, depending on the individual's comorbid medical issues.

One of the most important features differentiating ischemic cardiomyopathy from the other forms of cardiomyopathy is the shortened, or worsened all-cause mortality in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy. According to several studies, coronary artery bypass graft surgery has a survival advantage over medical therapy (for ischemic cardiomyopathy) across varied follow-ups.

Initial therapy of acute decompensated heart failure usually includes some combination of a vasodilator such as nitroglycerin, a loop diuretic such as furosemide, and non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV).

Even if symptoms of heart failure are not present, medications can be used to treat the symptoms that are being experienced. These medicines work to control these symptoms as well as treat other health problems that might be present. They can work to improve the quality of life, slow down the progression of heart failure and reduce the risk for other complications that can occur due to heart failure. It is very important to take proper medicines exactly as prescribed by the physician.

A number of different medications are required for people who are experiencing heart failure. Common types of medications that are prescribed for heart failure patients include ACE inhibitors, vasodilators, beta blockers, aspirin, calcium channel blockers, and cholesterol lowering medications such as statins. Depending on the type of damage a patient has suffered and the underlying cause of the heart failure, any of these drug classes or a combination of them can be prescribed. Patients with heart pumping problems will use a different medication combination than those who are experiencing problems with the heart's ability to fill properly during diastole. Potentially dangerous drug interactions can occur when different drugs mix together and work against each other.