WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, HEIKENWAELDER HUGO
Almost 20 percent of patients who’ve experienced one heart attack will have a second heart attack within the year, but whether follow-up heart attacks merely reflect worsening atherosclerotic disease, in which the accumulation of fatty materials such as cholesterol thicken artery walls, or whether heart attacks themselves instigate further heart problems has been unclear. Now, research published today (June 27) in Nature suggests that stress during the initial heart attack stimulates production of inflammatory cells that destabilize atherosclerotic plaques, increasing chances that existing plaques will rupture and cause more heart attacks. Researchers say this post-heart attack inflammatory process could provide a new therapeutic target for preventing future heart attacks.
“The findings are important because they clarify a situation we know from the clinics very well,” ...
