Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 9, 1991                   TAG: 9103090354
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

DRUGS USED DURING REPEAT HEART ATTACK MAY BE INEFFECTIVE

The drugs can cause a buildup of antibodies, substances made by the blood that protect against foreign bodies, according to Dr. Harvey White of Green Lane Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand.

The antibodies sometimes cancel out the drugs' effects when they are given a second time, he said.

Because of the reaction, use of the drugs streptokinase or anistreplase might be ineffective, said White, a heart disease specialist.

His comments appear in this week's issue of the British Medical Journal.

Patients should get one of two other drugs that work in a similar way, tissue plasminogen activator or urokinase, he said.

All four drugs work by attacking and dissolving blood clots in arteries around the heart. The blood clots can lead to heart attacks.

The drugs are commonly given within hours or even minutes of the beginning of a heart attack.

Patients having a second heart attack should not be given streptokinase or anistreplase, said Dr. David Pearle, chief of cardiology at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

"There is a possibility that the drugs could be ineffective," he said.

- Medical Tribune News Service