ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 1, 1996 TAG: 9611010050
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BALTIMORE
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A new drug is more effective than aspirin in reducing the threat of a heart attack caused by blood clots - but more so for women than men, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions said Thursday.
The drug, integrelin, is as safe as aspirin and does a better job, according to reports on the research in November issues of the journals Circulation and Clinical Cardiology.
Researchers found that female patients admitted with unstable angina who were given integrelin intravenously for up to 72 hours had fewer and shorter episodes of ischemia, or reduced blood flow to the heart, than those who took only aspirin. Male patients showed negligible improvement with integrelin.
``The data was absolutely amazing,'' said Dr. Pascal Goldschmidt, author of the Clinical Cardiology report.
About 570,000 patients are hospitalized each year with unstable angina, said Dr. Steven Schulman, author of the Circulation study.
Angina attacks often are caused by blood clots formed by platelets. Aspirin has been shown to keep platelets from clumping, and standard hospital therapy calls for one aspirin a day, Schulman said.
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