Thrombolytic Treatment for Myocardial Infarction

All authors were formerly at Council of Scientific and Industrial Research HQ, New Delhi. This study looks at the available life-saving treatments for heart attacks and ischaemic heart diseases administered in India, focusing on streptokinase and finding that it is the life-saving clot-buster for the majority of patients. This brings to light that the surgical intervention of angioplasty is more of an income-biased treatment. Public-funded research and development of indigenous streptokinase has directly enabled access to treatment, especially for economically challenged patients.

The authors thank the anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions.The article benefited from support of and discussions with several persons, notably Tanjore Balganesh, Satya Das, Biswajit Dhar and Girish Sahni.
All authors were formerly at Council of Scientific and Industrial Research HQ, New Delhi.

In the human system, blood clots occur under various circumstances. During an injury or bleeding, blood coagulation is a natural process. However, aberrant blood clots may be formed at critical locations in the body such as in the brain, heart, lungs, blood vessels, etc, and block blood supply. Such a condition requires immediate treatment Mayo Clinic 2014). Thrombolytic agents can dissolve blood clots, thereby restoring the flow of blood through blocked blood vessels. Thrombolytic drugs mainly used in India are streptokinase, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), and urokinase.

In 2004, cardiovascular heart disease (CHD) was the leading cause of death in India, with 1.46 million deaths (14% out of a total of 10.3 million deaths), 130.7 deaths per 1 lakh and 207.7 age-standardised deaths per 1 lakhWHO India nd).