In the largest study ever conducted on people in the throes of a heart attack, scientists have found that giving a newer blood thinner instead of the traditional one could halve the risk of causing life threatening bleeding. Researchers who presented their findings Monday at the annual conference of the European Society of Cardiology, said that switching to the new drug could prevent 10 fatal heart attacks, four strokes and 25 major bleeding incidents for every 1,000 people receiving treatment.When patients come into the emergency room with a condition known as acute coronary syndrome, where there is a sudden serious reduction in blood flow to the heart, they are treated with an arsenal of drugs aimed at preventing blood clots that cause heart attacks. The medications work by blocking several different points in the clot-forming process.The drugs are very effective, but the trade-off is that they increase the risk of bleeding. Major bleeding is now the biggest threat that these patients face.The study, which involved 20,000 patients being treated in hospitals in 41 countries, swapped one of those drugs in the basket for a newer one that blocks clotting in a very similar, but not exactly the same, way.
