Researchers studied death rates among 20,683 heart-attack victims who arrived at hospital within 12 hours of the symptoms starting.

Angioplasty patients, who had a balloon inserted then inflated inside the constricted coronary arteries, had a 27% lower risk of death after one year, compared to those given drugs designed to dissolve clots blocking the blood vessels.

But when the study was narrowed to those patients who obviously benefited from each procedure, the difference was much reduced.

The study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Go-ahead for flu drug

A treatment which can shorten the time a patient suffers from flu will soon be available to US patients.

The US Food and Drug Administration has licenced Relenza, made by Glaxo, after safety tests.

Trials show that Relenza can moderate flu symptoms and reduce an attack by a day or two.

It's makers are confident it will be released in time for the 1999/2000 flu season in the US.

An anti-rejection drug which may mean far fewer side-effects for kidney transplant patients has been given approval in the US.

Rapamune will be used alongside other drugs to stop the body rejecting the new organ.

Transplants failed in only 18% of cases in which Rapamune was given, compared with 32% given normal treatment.

Cyberknife slices 'inoperable' tumours

A device which uses hi-tech methods to target tumours with radiation has passed safety tests.

The "cyberknife" can now be used to treat tumours in the brain, neck and upper spine.

The machine, attached to a robotic arm, precisely targets relatively small doses of radiation in exactly the right spot.

It may be the only solution for patients with inoperable tumours, said its developer, Dr John Adler.