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Article: Clot-busting drugs to turn off heart attacks. (alteplase and streptokinase)
- Article from:
- FDA Consumer
- Article date:
- February 1, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Clot-Busting Drugs To Turn Off Heat Attacks
Every year, about 1.5 million Americans suffer a heart attack. Of that number, one-third die within one year, 100,000 before they can be hospitalized. Typically, a blood clot develops in one of the arteries to the heart, preventing oxygen-rich blood from that part of the heart muscle. The greater the blockage and the longer it continues, the more of the heart muscle that is lost. Substantial loss of heart muscle can lead to heart failure and death.
But over the past several years, researchers have developed drugs called thrombolytic agents that can help dissolve the clots. Blood can then again flow through ...