THOUSANDS of heart attack patients every year could benefit from a groundbreaking new therapy which restores blood flow to small vessels and boosts their chances of survival.

The clot-breaking treatment is being trialled for the first time in a hospital-based study led by cardiologists at Golden Jubilee hospital, in Clydebank.

It is aimed at patients at the highest risk of suffering deadly heart failure in the days after surviving a heart attack, with anything from about one in five to one in 10 patients expected to benefit.

The drug, Alteplase, breaks down micro blood clots and restores blood flow to the multiple branches of the blocked artery.

The researchers hope that using the drug will offer patients a better recovery compared to the standard hospital procedure where doctors prop open the blocked artery using a device called a stent.

Currently, there is no treatment for multiple blockages in the small vessels, which can cause injured heart tissue and a risk of complications including heart failure.

The Scotland-led trial, known as the T-Time trial, is the first time Alteplase has been tested as a means of flushing out tiny blood clots in these vessels.

Colin Berry, professor of cardiology and imaging at the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences and research director for the Golden Jubilee, said: “The current treatment for a heart attack patient is to re-open the blood vessel and place a thin metal tube, called a stent.

“This ‘standard of care’ treatment is very successful for the affected artery. However the many smaller branches remain blocked in about half of all patients. This residual heart injury places patients at risk of heart failure days later and in the longer term.

“We have developed a new treatment approach that involves giving a low dose of a ‘clot-breaking’ drug directly into the affected artery at the time of the heart attack. In the T-TIME study, we will gather information to assess whether or not this treatment reduces the amount of heart injury, and whether it is safe.”

Since the trial launched last year, about 150 patients have been enrolled at the Golden Jubilee, with suitable patients also being recruited at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, University Hospital Southampton, Leeds General Infirmary, Glenfield Hospital Leicester, Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester and St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.

Patients are split into two categories, with half receiving Alteplase and the remainder receiving a placebo. As the trial is “double blind”, neither the patient nor their cardiologist knows whether they have received the drug.

Mr Berry said it was too early to say whether the drug treatment was leading to significantly improved recoveries, but the results are expected to be ready within two years.

It comes as the latest national statistics on coronary heart disease in Scotland showed that the incidence rate for heart attacks has fallen by 16.8 per cent, from 262 per 100,000 population in 2006/07 to 218 in 2015/16.

Survival has also improved over the decade. Patients admitted as an emergency with their first heart attack are now surviving for at least 30 days in nearly 93 per cent of cases, compared to 85 per cent 10 years ago.