Giving heart attack patients a dose of “superaspirin” before rather than during a procedure to restore blood flow to the heart could save tens of thousands of lives a year, new research suggests. In a major international study presented Sunday at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, scientists found that giving heart attack victims the drug Plavix when they arrive at the emergency room almost halved the risk of a stroke, a repeated heart attack or death within the first month after angioplasty.Angioplasty, a procedure where doctors thread a needle through the blood vessels and implant a tiny flexible mesh tube to prop open narrowed or clogged arteries, is performed on about 2 million people worldwide every year.Patients during this procedure are routinely given Plavix, often called superaspirin because it prevents blood clots in a similar way to aspirin but has a higher potency, because inflating the mesh tube inside the blood vessels disturbs the lining of the artery and attracts clots.
