Cardiologists from the Netherlands and Australia have made a promising discovery. An anti-inflammatory drug, Colchicine, which has been used for centuries for gout, has been shown to prevent cardiovascular disease in patients who have ever had a heart attack or who suffer from narrowed coronary arteries. A low dose of the drug lowers the risk of a heart attack by 30%. This research was published early this week at the online Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in Amsterdam and in the top journal The New England Journal of Medicine. Arend Mosterd, a cardiologist in Meander, is one of the principal investigators.
Fewer (deadly) heart attacks
The study included 5,500 patients who have ever had a myocardial infarction or who suffer from narrowed coronary arteries. Half received 0.5 mg of Colchicine every day, the rest a placebo. Fewer (fatal) heart attacks occurred in the group that received the drug. These people also required angioplasty surgery much less often. “In the Netherlands, hundreds of thousands of heart patients could soon benefit from this drug,” Arend Mosterd told NRC Handelsblad.
Readily available
Colchicine is an anti-inflammatory substance that was originally extracted from the autumn crocus plant. The medicine is prescribed for gout and sometimes for inflammation of the pericardium. The researchers expect doctors to be able to quickly prescribe the drug to patients who have had myocardial infarction or have narrowing of the coronary arteries. Colchicine is basically readily available and it is a cheap drug.
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More information can be found at the website of the Heart Foundation.
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