Cardiac surgery is very complex and many patients suffer major complications after an operation.
But doctors at London's Hammersmith Hospital believe they have identified a drug which can be used to reduce the risks involved in heart surgery. They have found that the drug aprotinin stops some of the body's unwanted and potentially damaging reactions to the operation. The drug is currently used to cut down on bleeding during and after bypass surgery. But the doctors have suggested that administering the drug routinely to patients could have significant benefits for the hundreds of thousands of patients across the world who undergo heart surgery each year. The research team, based at the British Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Unit within the hospital, discovered that aprotinin successfully stopped blood cells from becoming inflamed in a certain way.