Preventative angioplasty could save thousands of lives

Preventive angioplasty in heart attack patients cuts the risk of death and other serious complications, according to research by cardiologists. The 'PRAMI study' involved 465 patients recruited between 2008 and 2013 and was conducted at specialist heart centres across the UK, including the London Chest, Norfolk and Norwich, Newcastle and Glasgow's Golden Jubilee. It concluded that heart attack patients who had stents - thin cylindrical metal mesh tubes - placed in their other narrowed arteries at the same time as the one that triggered the heart attack were 64 per cent less likely to die, suffer another serious heart attack or have severe angina over the subsequent two years. There are around 103,000 heart attacks in the UK each year, according to the British Heart Foundation. Professor Colin Berry, a co-author of the study from the University of Glasgow, said: "Currently, following a heart attack, patients undergo an emergency operation called an angioplasty. During this procedure, a stent is inserted into the blocked artery to restore normal blood function. However, around half of patients also have significant narrowing in other arteries which could cause another heart attack in the future.