A new study on medication called Brilinta has found patients who take blood thinner therapy beyond one year after their heart attack can greatly reduce their risks of another attack happening.
Dr. David Marr is a cardiologist at the Saint John Regional Hospital and he says he’s excited about the future.
Don Clark of Halifax survived four separate cardiac events before having triple bypass surgery. He’s now on blood thinners for the rest of his life and says other heart attack survivors can also benefit by staying on the medication longer, adding that he still lives a normal life on it.
Findings from the study showed patients reduced their risk of a heart attack, stroke or death by up to 16 percent. More than 84,000 Canadians will have a heart attack this year and of those one in five will have a second heart attack, stroke or die by 2018.
