PHILADELPHIA, May 16 (UPI) -- Acetaminophen is safe to use as a pain reliever and fever reducer after a heart attack, but it does not protect the heart muscle, a U.S. study finds.
The study, using rabbits and sheep, could have implications for people who have suffered heart attacks, according to researcher Dr. Robert C. Gorman, associate professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
The researchers wanted to find out if acetaminophen can be used after a heart attack and after subjects have undergone reperfusion therapy, a procedure to restore blood flow to the heart.
The researcher found that acetaminophen had no effect on the amount of blood flow to the heart muscle, how much heart muscle was saved, blood pressure, ventricular function and heart rate.
The results, published by the American Physiological Society, are at odds with a previous study using dogs that concluded that acetaminophen reduced the area affected by a heart attack by 22 percent. Gorman said the difference may be due in part to the abundance of blood vessels dogs have compared to humans, rabbits and sheep.
