What is a stent? A stent is a thin tube that can be very beneficial in the treatment of heart disease. It keeps your arteries open, which are the blood veins that carry blood from your heart to other sections of your body, including the heart muscle itself. Most stents are permanent and formed of wire mesh. Some are made of a material that dissolves and is gradually absorbed by your body, while others have a coating of medication that gently releases into your artery to prevent it from being clogged again.
Why would someone need a stent?
Stents can treat an ongoing heart attack and lower your risk of chest pain by keeping an artery open. Coronary heart disease is a condition where blood flow to the heart is reduced and can cause chest pain.
Stents may be required during an emergency surgery, which is more prevalent if a coronary artery in the heart is blocked. A heart stent is typically inserted to strengthen the blood vessel’s structure and maintain healthy blood flow to the heart muscle when fatty material known as plaque accumulates in the coronary arteries, which can restrict blood flow and damage the blood vessel.
How is a stent implanted?
Typically, you shouldn’t experience any sharp pain throughout the procedure. Your doctor will make a small cut in a blood vessel in your groin(femoral), arm (brachial), or wrist (radial) in order to place a stent. However, the brachial approach provides the only circulation to the forearm and hand. Any compromise of this artery can lead to severe ischemic complications hence the popularity of the radial approach.
After inserting the stent into your artery, the balloon and catheter are removed, but the stent remains in place to maintain the artery’s openness. Although the procedure takes about an hour, you’ll probably spend the night in the hospital. Once the cardiologist is satisfied that it is in the proper position, the balloon is inflated to enlarge the blocked artery and allow blood to flow through it once again.
Important
It is worthy to note that there are patient-specific considerations in inserting a coronary stent. An angiographer (a cardiologist specialized in coronary angiogram and stent insertion) needs assessment of the risks and benefits of the procedure and take note of the following: extent of the affected heart muscle, baseline lesion structure/morphology, underlying cardiac function of the patient, presence of any kidney disease/dysfunction, and other pre-exisitng medical comorbidities.
What are the risks?
The most dangerous issue that might affect the stent is blood clotting. Blood clots may leadto heart attacks, strokes, and thromboembolism in other parts of the body.
- Chest pain: Chest pain is an indication of restenosis.
- Bleeding where the doctor implanted the tube in your skin.
- The tube could damage your blood vessel.
- Infection
- Irregular heartbeat
- If you receive stents, you have a 1% to 2% chance of developing a blood clot in the first few months after the procedure. This can raise your risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke. After having a stent installed, your doctor may urge you to take aspirin or another medication to prevent blood clots; you may need to take the prescription for a month to a year or for the rest of your life.
With a few lifestyle adjustments, you can lessen the risk of artery plaque buildup:
Exercise more, reduce your weight if you’re overweight, quit smoking, de-stress, and take all of your doctor’s prescribed meds. Consult your doctor if you have a stent and are concerned whether a certain activity is safe for you to perform. With proper management, you might be able to go back to work in a week.
Key Takeaways
Stents are designed to be permanent and will keep your artery open once they have been implanted. But they don’t treat the atherosclerotic condition that created the buildup in your artery. You will still need treatment to stop further artery narrowing.
The most crucial thing you can do to maintain your stent functioning is to take all recommended medications and alter your lifestyle as directed by your doctor.
Learn more about Atherosclerosis here.
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