What Helps After Heart Attack

Invasive coronary strategies may improve survival in patients who have had a myocardial infarction  (heart attack), a new study found.

This study of almost 400,000 patients found that surgical procedures like coronary angiography, stent placements and coronary artery bypass graft surgery may help those patients, who have had a non–ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), stay alive. 

Medical interventions like aspirin, beta-blockers, P2Y12 inhibitors and statins also appeared to have an association with improved survival, although not to the same extent as surgical strategies, this University of Leeds study found.

Invasive coronary strategies were tied to a 46 percent relative decrease in mortality (death).

If you or a loved one has had a heart attack, talk to your doctor about the healthiest post-heart attack strategies.

This study was published in JAMA.

Various institutions funded this research, including the Medical Research Council, the British Heart Foundation and National Institute for Health Research. Study authors disclosed ties to several pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline.