Now, in an unexpected twist, a string of laboratory and genetic findings suggest that an old class of asthma drugs called leukotriene inhibitors might also help prevent heart attacks.

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In his JAMA commentary, Nissen writes that Pfizer's drug may help prevent heart attacks not only by lowering bad cholesterol but also by cutting another heart attack risk: inflammation in the arteries.

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Last year, researchers published a study suggesting the device could help prevent small heart attacks that occasionally occur in about 10% of procedures when stents are deployed to prop open diseased coronary arteries.

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These medications help reduce the workload on your heart while you recover and may help prevent further attacks.

CNN: Broken heart syndrome

We now know how to prevent heart attacks, and how to help patients survive when they have them, but it helps to be an informed consumer.

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It showed that an aspirin a day reduces the incidence of heart attacks by half, and that the drug can also help to prevent thrombosis and strokes.

ECONOMIST: An aspirin a day keeps the doctor at bay

There is still a long way to go before millions of patients take 301012 to prevent heart attacks--although the drug could be on the market to help some exceptionally sick people in just a few years.

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