Some strokes can also be prevented by procedures to open obstructed arteries in the neck that supply blood to the brain.

A procedure called angioplasty may be needed to open blocked coronary arteries.

Now, doctors give drugs to heart attack patients to dissolve blood clots, opening blocked arteries.

The next logical step, he said, would be to use the same method to open blocked arteries leading to the heart.

During that time, 571 women had heart attacks, strokes, procedures to open blocked coronary arteries or died from cardiovascular disease.

He died after angioplasty to open arteries in his heart, said his wife, Betty.

But researchers here and in Europe have also been studying ultrasound to open blocked arteries.

But during a heart attack or in the early hours afterward, stents are the best way to open arteries and prevent damage.

Minimally invasive procedures to open clogged arteries are another case in point.

The new procedure is a variation on the technique used to open blocked arteries to the heart.