Heart Attack Breakthrough

Heart Attack Breakthrough
  A myocardial infarction, or otherwise known as a heart attack, occurs when the supply of blood to the heart is blocked, the main cause of this usually being blood clots. Coronary heart disease is the prominent cause of heart attacks each year, with approximately 73,000 losing their lives due to the disease. Heart and circulatory diseases are life threatening, but research from US scientists regarding unchecked inflammation has uncovered new information which is being hailed as the ‘biggest breakthrough since statins’.

  Individuals who had suffered from a heart attack were injected with an anti-inflammatory  drug known as canakinumab, and follow up research found that not only did they experience fewer heart attacks in the future but also the risk of cancer was reduced by 50%.

Why was there a need for further research into heart diseases?

Statins are currently integral to the treatment of people who have heart diseases. Statins are a group of medicines with the function of lowering the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol present in the blood. LDL cholesterol is produced in the liver, and becomes dangerous in large amounts as it is able to cause arteries to harden and narrow, which in turn will reduce the amount of blood that is able to be pumped through them, leading to one of a number of possible heart diseases including angina, strokes as well as heart diseases. Thus, statins are an integral part of treatment.

However, statistics show that one quarter of people who have previsouly had heart attacks and take statins persistently will still have another one in the next five years. The reason for this is believed to be unmonitored inflammation of the arteries. Therefore, prescribing an anti-inflammatory drug such as canakinumab alongside the statins may have combined effects. When canakinumab was tested on 10,000 individuals who had previously had a heart attack and had inflammation within the body, the possibility of another heart attack happening was reduced by 15%. Not only this, but there was a further reduction of 30% in regards to the number of intervention procedures that would be needed which are very expensive, including bypass surgery.

Importantly, the team have been able to add scientific weight to the relationship between inflammation and cardiovascular health, to bring about a more specific and promising direction for treatment to enhance the benefits of statins used today. However, it is unsurprising that the discovery does not come without implications. There is an increased chance of contracting a severe infection which may lead to death, an element which must first be isolated and understood before inti-inflammatory drugs can take precedent. Statins will still be the main form of medication at present, but the data collected from the research is invaluable and has certainly established promise for improved healthcare for those with heart diseases.

I hope you enjoyed the post this week, thank you for reading!

By Vicale Czan Alfanti

Universal Medicine

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/27/anti-inflammatory-drugs-may-lower-heart-attack-risk-study-finds
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/heart-attack/Pages/Introduction.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Cholesterol-lowering-medicines-statins/Pages/Introduction.aspx

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