A new type of angioplasty may help ward off future heart attacks, chest pain and blood vessel blockage. Currently, experts say at least a third of patients who have arteries unblocked may experience a re-clogging months or years later.

Angioplasty is usually performed to restore good blood flow to narrowed arteries. A tiny balloon is inserted through a catheter and inflated to open up the artery. To keep the vessel open, doctors usually place metal mesh wires (known as stents) into the artery. Stents by themselves, however, haven't always kept the arteries from narrowing again.

In a new study, researchers gave 30 patients stents coated with sirolimus, a drug usually used to prevent rejections in kidney transplants. The participants either received sirolimus in a slow-release or a fast-release formulation.

Investigators followed up with all the patients after 4 and 8 months and found none of them had died, suffered a heart attack or developed blood vessel problems that needed medical procedures. In both groups, the cell growth in the arteries was reportedly limited to 10% along the entire length of the stent.

The study's results are promising, say researchers. "This could be a milestone in interventional cardiology," said lead author J. Eduardo Sousa, MD, PhD, director of the Institue Danta Pazzanese of Cardiology in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in a press release.

At least one expert agrees. "This is very exciting news as it may ultimately save many people from having to undergo coronary artery bypass surgery, and it may also prevent late restenosis [re-clogging of arteries]," says David A. Meyerson, MD, a spokesperson for the American Heart Association and a cardiologist at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland.

Bypass surgery is commonly performed on patients with more than one blocked vessel. The procedure involves putting the patient under general anesthesia, opening up the chest and stopping the heart. The surgeon then sews new vessels into place to bypass blocked areas.

Surgery usually requires more discomfort and recovery time, says Meyerson, which is why the medicated stent procedure sounds so exciting.

Yet while medicine and cardiology have promising new technology, Meyerson stresses that it's important for people to keep the prevention of heart disease in mind.

"No one that I know would willingly trade a well-treated heart attack for never having had one to begin with," he says. "So we would urge all of our patients to not smoke, keep their blood pressure very well-controlled, keep their cholesterol extremely well-controlled, if you're diabetic, watch your blood sugar, stay as active as your doctor suggests, and by all means, do not ignore symptoms because when symptoms occur, with these techniques, we can prevent heart attacks and keep people functioning at very high levels for a very long time."

Sousa's study appears in the December 19 online issue of Circulation Journal of the American Heart Association. The story will also be available in the January 16th issue of the printed journal.

(From MedScape)