Produced by endothelial cells lining arteries, EDHF dilates vessels that regulate blood flow to the heart. This may prove especially useful for treating patients with angina. The agency notes in the approval announcement that this is the first drug to be approved for intermittent claudication in more than 15 years. The procedure, called transmyocardial revascularization, is approved for use in patients whose chest pain, also called angina, cannot be controlled by other treatments, including medication, angioplasty, or bypass surgery. So say the authors of a report in the journal Preventive Medicine.
Some physicians feel the relief is probably due to a placebo effect.
However, a device that measures how well red blood cells transport oxygen is revealing the medicine's magic, Dr. Henry Buchwald of the University of Minnesota and colleagues report. The findings are published in the November 1st issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. If their results are confirmed in other studies, the findings may lead to new therapies for unstable angina, according to the researchers. A procedure that uses a laser to create tiny tunnels in heart tissue confers sustained relief from a type of severe chest pain called angina, researchers reported Tuesday. Patients who underwent transmyocardial revascularization experienced fewer spells of uncontrollable chest pain, fewer hospitalizations for chest pain, and a better quality of life than patients treated with conventional medical therapy, according to two studies published in the September 30th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.