The centre will operate on patients instead of administering drugs
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A 24-hour emergency heart attack centre serving two million Londoners has opened at the London Chest Hospital.
The centre in Bethnal Green, east London, allows patients to undergo an angioplasty in which narrowed arteries are forced open with a tiny balloon.
Consultant cardiologist Professor Martin Rothman, head of the centre, said: "This is the future of heart attack care."
Patients have previously been taken to A&E departments across east London.
Doctors at the centre maintain the procedure is more successful than the clog-busting drugs alternative.
Prof Rothman said: "Research has shown that carrying out an emergency angioplasty is more effective.
"It saves lives, reduces the risk of a further heart attack and enables patients to go home much sooner."
The Barts and the London Heart Attack Centre was formally opened by the Department of Health's National Director for Heart Disease, Dr Roger Boyle, on Friday.
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