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Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : July 6, 2014 1:14 PM IST
A cheaper drug used to prevent blood clot formation during emergency heart attack treatment is more effective than its more popular and expensive counterpart. Heparin could result in improved outcomes (such as a reduced rate of repeat heart attacks), compared to the other drug tested, bivalirudin, which is in widespread use in high-income countries and is around 400 times more expensive than heparin, a research showed.
The results of the HEAT-PPCI trial suggest that systematic use of heparin rather than bivalirudin after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) - the most commonly used treatment for heart attack, which unblocks the arteries carrying blood to the heart - could save health services substantial sums of money, at the same time as potentially improving patient outcomes. Also read why women are more prone to heart diseases?
'As far as we are aware, our study is one of the first trials to recruit 100 percent of eligible patients presenting with the medical condition being examined, which means that it more closely resembles real life practice than many previous trials,' said lead author Rod Stables of the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Britain. The trial involved 1,829 patients undergoing emergency angiography (an x-ray examination of the heart's arteries after a suspected heart attack).
More than four-fifths of these patients then went on to receive PPCI; approximately half received heparin, and half received bivalirudin. Overall rates of major adverse cardiac events were significantly lower in the group who received heparin, although the rates of adverse events were low, as expected, in both groups. Also read what happens to your baody during a heart attack.
What is a heart attack?
A heart attack also referred to as a myocardial infarction (MI), coronary thrombosis or coronary occlusion. It usually occurs when the blood supply to the heart is blocked suddenly due to complete blockage of the artery supplying blood to the heart. This causes the heart muscle cells to die. The blockage of artery is often caused by plaque formation (deposition and hardening of fatty substances and cholesterol on the walls of arteries) resulting in coronary heart disease (CHD).
What happens during a heart attack?
The number of people who suffer from heart disease is constantly on the rise. Many die due to heart attacks and doctors tirelessly tell you about the classic symptoms of the condition. But do you know what exactly happens inside your body and to your heart during a heart attack? Well, here is a look at a heart attack from your body's perspective.
1. Most heart attacks happen because of a blockage in the blood vessels that supply the muscles of the heart. This blockage happens because of plaque (a sticky substance that is made of fats, cholesterol and white blood cells) buildup on the arterial walls of the heart. Want to control your cholesterol levels? Here is how you can do it.
2. When this plaque gets disturbed it breaks up into a number of tiny pieces that then go and lodge themselves in various places.
3. Thinking that there is a threat to your blood vessel, your red blood cells and white blood cells go an attach themselves to the plaque (just like the would in the case of a wound). While this is a repair mechanism, these cells end up blocking the blood vessel.
4. Once blocked the blood flowing through the heart stops and can no more reach the other parts of the heart muscle. Because of lack of oxygen those parts of the heart muscle start to die.
5. Your body then realizing that the heart is not working properly goes into the 'fight or flight' mode. It sends signal to the spinal cord that the heart in trouble.
6. The spinal cord in turn sends a message to your brain which it interprets as pain in the jaw, left hand and chest also known as referred pain. Read about the classical symptoms of a heart attack.
The study appeared in journal The Lancet.
With inputs from IANS
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