A relatively simple modification of the method of treating heart attacks could save thousands of lives, reports BBC News.
Experts from the Golden Jubilee National Hospital (UK) propose to open all narrowed coronary arteries – not just the one that has been completely blocked – in a person admitted to hospital for a heart attack.
Clinical trials at Golden Jubilee National Hospital, London Chest Hospital, Morriston Hospital at Swansea, Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital were so successful that they were stopped early to be able to use the method on more people.
Every year, due to a heart attack, angioplasty is performed in thousands of people – that is, surgical restoration of the arteries. About 25 jobs are performed annually in Great Britain. such treatments.
When a patient with a heart attack comes to a cardiology center, angiography is performed – an imaging test that allows to assess the condition of the blood vessels in the picture. Then the doctors perform angioplasty – they insert a catheter with a special balloon into the blocked artery and open it. During the procedure, metal “springs – stents” are often inserted into the widened vessel.
A heart attack is caused by atherosclerotic deposits, which are often present not only in the blocked artery, but also in other, narrowed blood vessels. However, in the event of a heart attack, only the blocked artery is routinely performed with angioplasty. Most cardiologists believed that angioplasty of several coronary vessels at the same time was dangerous.
However, the results of a British study of 465 patients in five specialist cardiology centers show that not only is such extended procedures safe, but the risk of death, another heart attack or angina attacks drops by as much as two-thirds – a result so spectacular that the study was discontinued so as not to deprive the control group of a chance for better treatment.
The average duration of an angioplasty procedure increased by 20 minutes.
The results were presented in the New England Journal of Medicine and at an international conference in Amsterdam.
Although the procedures to unblock several vessels are more expensive, they prevent later problems requiring hospitalization and can also be cost effective from an economic point of view, the specialists say.
Research on a much larger scale should start soon (PAP).