A group of Korean scientists claimed Friday that they had developed a drug treatment that would prevent the recurrence of angina pectoris, the medical term for chest pain or discomfort due to coronary heart disease.

A team led by Seoul National University Professor Kim Hyo-soo said it administered an anti-inflammatory, painkilling medication called "celecoxib" to 270 patients for six months, using a stent to deliver the drug commonly used to treat arthritis and acute pain.

The team found that the treatment reduced the recurrence of coronary vessel stricture by 54 percent, while the risk of heart attack was down by 66 percent.

Usually, around 20 percent of heart patients receiving the stent treatment experience the recurrence of blood vessel stricture or narrowing.

The research team forecast that their new method can prevent recurrence of blood vessel narrowing in about ten-thousand patients annually.

The research has been published by the Lancet, a world-renowned medical journal.