Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

A medical study performed at the University of Turin (Italy) has shown favorable results not using the blood thinner heparin during artery-opening procedures, according to the U.S. News. Heparin is usually used during these procedures.

Italian researches carefully selected 700 of the “lowest risk” patients to participate in the trial. This included patients with single blockages of a heart artery, currently taking two clot-preventing medications such as aspirin and thienopyridine, and with no immediate danger of heart attack.

The study found that the incidence of heart damage and bleeding events were lower in the patients who participated in the study, and there was a lower risk of death, heart attack or blood vessel problems.

According to the American Heart Association, the artery-opening procedure, formerly called percutaneous coronary interventions, is a procedure used to treat patients with diseased arteries of the heart. For example, chest pain caused by a build-up of fats, cholesterol and other substances from the blood that can reduce blood flow to a near trickle or heart attack caused by a large blood clot that completely blocks the artery.

The Italian study cautioned that using no heparin is a bold step and one that should be taken only after serious consideration and evaluation of the patient’s health.

While more work is needed to confirm the results, some researches applaud efforts to move medical innovations like this forward. This is especially welcome news considering the recent contaminated heparin scare that killed more than 80 Americans and sickened hundreds more.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 3:27 pm and is filed under Heparin recall, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.