New Device To Treat Heart Attacks

Coronary blood clots are the leading cause of heart attacks. In the United States, each year approximately 1,500,000 people suffer heart attacks and, among those, more than 500,000 die.

Dr. Michael Breen of CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago, reports on a device that may revolutionize treatment for heart attacks.

Heart attacks begin when a block forms in a heart vessel. That block is often completed by blood cells that form a clot.
Doctors can pass a balloon to open up that vessel. But if the clot breaks off and goes downstream, it can cause heart muscle damage by blocking off arteries.

The heart muscle damage literally means a second heart attack, one caused by the procedure itself. Researchers have been trying to develop a new procedure that does not just move clots, but removes them.

A new device, called an Angiojet, creates tiny jets of salt water. Those jets are guided up the leg, into a heart vessel, toward a clot. The jets then break the clot up and remove its red blood cells.

Dr. Eric Grassman of Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago demonstrated the procedure for Dr. Breen. Using the Angiojet, the red blood cells causing the clot were visible as they were sucked into a collection bag.

The procedure is quick - it takes just five minutes.

Researchers at Loyola say the Angiojet is the first technique ever to totally remove a block. That means it may save about a half-million lives every year.

The procedure is currently being tested at Loyola and at several other hospitals in the United States, and is expected to be available nationwide by next year.

Reported by Dr. Michael Breen