Super clot-buster combo improves blood flow
A combination of anti-platelet therapy and a low-dose of a clot-dissolving agent achieved optimal blood flow in nearly 75% of heart attack patients in a study that was presented at the American Heart Association’s 71st scientific sessions in Dallas last fall.
According to researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, three-fourths of the heart attack patients who received the powerful anti-platelet agent abciximab (Malvern, PA-based Centocor’s ReoPro), referred to as "super aspirin," combined with half the standard dose of the clot-dissolving agent alteplase (tissue plas-minogen activator or tPA) achieved optimal blood flow within 60 minutes of treatment.
This compared favorably with a control group of 43% of patients treated with a full dose of alteplase without abciximab. The study is based on results from the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI)-14 Trial, which examined the success of single and combination therapies in restoring normal blood flow to the heart in AMI patients within 60 to 90 minutes of the start of treatment. The TIMI-14 Trial is being continued to define the optimal dose of reteplase (rPA), another clot-dissolving agent, in combination with abciximab.
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