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| Two new studies
offer hope for Canadians who have suffered a heart attack |
|
(NC)-Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of death in
Canada; sadly, almost every Canadian knows or has met someone who
has experienced a heart attack.
Many of us also know someone who did
not survive one.
What
many Canadians don't know is that in many cases, a heart attack is
the result of a condition called atherothrombosis - a blood clot
that forms in a blood vessel, disrupting the flow of blood - and can
be prevented. If an artery leading to a heart is fully or almost
completely blocked, a heart attack occurs.
What is
Atherothrombosis?
Atherothrombosis is a progressive and lifelong disease that affects
the body's network of blood vessels. Put simply, blood clots form on
fatty deposits in the inside wall of an artery and the flow of blood
is disrupted. If there is a disruption of the blood flow in the
affected artery, oxygen-rich blood is unable to reach the tissues on
the other side of the clot and the oxygen-starved cells begin to
die.
Atherothrombosis can lead to serious and potentially
life-threatening conditions including stroke, heart attack and
peripheral arterial disease (PAD), or blockages in the legs.
Patients admitted to hospital with a heart attack will in many cases
require surgery or another medical procedure (angioplasty) to open
their arteries. However, the arteries may re-close and a new
blockage puts a patient at risk of another heart attack.
The
good news is that results of two recent studies suggest that an
antiplatelet treatment saves lives and prevents a second heart
attack in these patients: the CLARITY and COMMIT studies
demonstrated that when combined with the standard therapy, the
antiplatelet drug Plavix helps patients maintain open arteries and
live longer, following serious heart attacks.
In
fact, the CLARITY study, which included 3,000 Canadians,
demonstrated that patients who took Plavix had a 36 per cent reduced
chance of having a re-closed artery or a second heart attack, or
dying after one week of hospitalization compared to another group
that only took the standard medications. Furthermore, the results of
the COMMIT study showed that Plavix reduced death in patients with
acute heart attack by seven per cent and the relative risk of the
combination of recurrent heart attack, stroke or death by nine per
cent.
What Can You Do?
Lifestyle modifications - such as quitting smoking or improving your
diet - are the first steps in managing atherothrombosis and
preventing or reducing the risk of a first or recurrent
atherothrombotic event (heart attack or stroke). Medical treatment
is also needed in many cases, especially in people who have already
suffered a heart attack or stroke and thus are at an increased risk
of having another life-threatening event.
The
key goal for treatments related to atherothrombosis is the
prevention of further blood clots. Doctors often prescribe patients
antiplatelets, such as Plavix, to decrease the possibility of the
body forming another blood clot. Antiplatelet therapies prevent
platelets from sticking together in the bloodstream; this helps
blood flow more easily, reducing the risk of a future heart attack
or stroke.
Courtesy of News Canada
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