Mount Sinai study could change the treatment course for hundreds of thousands of patients, saving lives and preventing complications

Bivalirudin is a safer and more effective anticoagulant than heparin for treating patients with the most serious type of heart attacks who undergo urgent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and can lower the risk of death or major bleeding by 31 percent.

These are findings from a new study led by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This is the first large-scale clinical trial to compare the two anticoagulants most widely used after PCI, and shows bivalirudin given with a two- to four-hour high-dose infusion significantly reduces death, major bleeding, and thrombosis when compared with heparin.