The treatment of pain in the acute phase of a suspected acute myocardial infarction is often insufficient and has remained unchanged during recent years. The introduction of substances with a potential to limit the infarct size, such as thrombolysis and beta-blockade, have, however, decreased the requirement for narcotic analgesics (which are still the drugs of choice in many hospitals). Knowledge is still lacking regarding the duration of pain relief, the time between drug administration and pain relief, and optimal doses for various analgesics. Future research should aim at the development of drugs with a more rapid onset of action, less side effects and more complete analgesia.