The new procedure was coronary angioplasty, a far less invasive and expensive procedure than coronary bypass surgery that is now performed over a million times each year in the U.S. alone, while saving countless lives.

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The participants in Dr Bolli's study were 23 unfortunates who had each had at least one heart attack in the past, and were thus lined up for coronary-bypass surgery, in which the furred-up blood supply to the heart is replaced with an alternative artery crafted from a blood vessel taken from elsewhere usually the leg.

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The trial showed that patients randomized to chelation therapy had a lower risk of a combined endpoint of death, heart attack, stroke, percutaneous coronary intervention, bypass surgery or hospitalization for angina than those who received a placebo infusion.

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Cheney had suffered three heart attacks in 10 years, his first at age 37, and in 1988 underwent quadruple-bypass surgery to relieve blockages in his coronary arteries.

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To get close to profitability, Price is also betting on Neutralase, a drug that would be used in coronary-artery bypass graft operations--more commonly referred to as open-heart surgery.

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