Angioplasty is found not effective for some patients after the first 12 hours of the heart attack. This common heart procedure is overused with no benefits to the patient.
The Occluded Artery Trial (OAT) was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health and is being presented today at a late-breaking clinical trial session of the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2006. The study is also published online on November 14 in the New England Journal of Medicine and in the journal’s December 7 issue.