By Rick Wills

Published: Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Heart specialists at Allegheny General Hospital announced today that they will join a clinical trial investigating an implantable device designed to provide patients with coronary artery disease an early warning of an impending heart attack.

AGH is the only Pittsburgh area hospital testing the new device — the AngelMed Guardian System.

"Patient outcomes following heart attack are largely dependent upon how quickly the cardiac injury is diagnosed and therapeutic efforts are initiated to restore blood flow to the heart. Delays in that process can result in permanent damage to heart muscle," said Dr. David Lasorda, director of the hospital's division of Interventional cardiology and its principal investigator in the study.

The American Heart Association estimates that one of every five deaths in the United States is attributable to coronary heart disease. Furthermore, 50 percent of heart-attack fatalities occur within one hour of symptom onset and often before the patient even reaches the hospital.

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