The surface of the skin is strongly sucked by the vacuum pressure in the cup, opening capillary vessels and pores.

In theory, he said, this type of hemoglobin might be used to counter a sickling crisis by opening vessels and delivering extra oxygen to nutrient-starved tissues.

The senior physician favored angioplasty, where tiny balloons and coils of wire called stents are used to open blocked vessels.

As the beast thundered toward him, Xavier jumped to one side and slashed the sharp knife across its throat, opening jugular and carotid vessels.

The problem also occurs in patients who have balloon angioplasty, in which an expandable device is used to open blocked vessels.

Other patients, he said, could be offered medical treatment or less invasive procedures like balloon angioplasty to open clogged vessels.

The meeting was aimed at doctors who use angioplasty and other methods to open blocked vessels of half a million Americans a year.

The procedure is also widely used to open clogged vessels in the leg and kidney, but most research attention has focused on the heart.

In the past, Dr. Jacobs said, cardiologists had only big balloons and bulky tubing to open blocked vessels, and some of the equipment may have been too large for women.

This drug and others like it have been proven to open vessels of people who are having heart attacks, so the hope is that they might be able to save stroke patients too.