The New Study on Stents and How it Effects Me Personally

The recent study online by the New England Journal of Medicine on on angioplastiesis a topic I am sadly familiar with. Researchers discovered that angioplasty did not save lives or prevent heart attacks in non-emergency heart patients. The procedure gave only slight and temporary relief from chest pain, the main reason it is done. Angioplasty is the number one treatment for people having a heart attack or hospitalized with worsening symptoms. But more often angioplasties are done on a non-emergency basis.

My husband, a retired New York City Deputy Sheriff had his first angioplasty back in February 2003. It was a cold and snowy day in Upstate NY, the day that forever changed the way we lived started as any other usual day for my family. He got the children off to school and met me at a hill top bus stop as I returned home from finishing up third shift at my job. That whole day he felt ill, and complained about a sharp should pain. Needless to say later on that evening we were at the emergency room.

After all was said and done, there were two blocked arteries, so a set of stents were put in. Now fast forward to 2007, he has been back to the emergency room for chest pains a total of three times and today he has a total of six stents in his arteries. As a matter of fact one stent is a replacement for another stent which had collapsed. The stents used on my husband are a time released dry medicated brand. This supposedly helps in preventing blockages around the stent.

He is also on a wide range of medications such as Plavix, Toprol, Quinapril, and Crestor. But more importantly he is on a strict lifestyle change, make that the whole family has had a lifestyle change. More exercise, better food choices and walking is part of those changes. I believe often times the idea of stents give patients a sense of a long term fix, which is far from the truth.

Approximately 1.2 million angioplasties are done in the United States each year. Through a blood vessel in the groin or the wrist, doctors snake a tube to a blocked heart artery. My husband has been through both procedures. A tiny balloon is inflated to flatten the clog and a mesh scaffold stent is usually put in place.

The procedure already has lost some popularity because of emerging evidence that popular drug-coated stents can raise the risk of blood clots months later. The new study shifts the argument from which type of stent to use to whether to do the procedure at all.

Bottom line is patients now should try drugs first, experts say. If that does not help, they can consider angioplasty or bypass surgery, which unlike angioplasty, does save lives, prevent heart attacks and give lasting chest pain relief.