A coronary stent is an artificial stainless tube device which is placed in the coronary artery to maintain vessel opening after treatment for coronary artery disease. Coronary artery stents have been designed to overcome some of the short comings of angioplasty, which is a technique that dilates, with the help of a catheter, an area of arterial blockage with a small inflatable, sausage-shaped balloon at its tip.
About the Procedure
You will be laid down and put under local anesthetic. Your surgeon will start by inserting a catheter at the location of the blockage and pass a wire through it. He or she will next guide the wire through the arterial system until it gets to the blocked artery. A balloon is then inflated to expand the stent against the walls of the coronary area. A collapsed stent, which is a small metal mesh tube, is then inserted to the site of the blockage. A cardiac angiography will come next to ensure that the stent is keeping the artery open.
Length
Depending on the difficulty of the procedure, it can take anywhere between 30 minutes and 3 hours.
Benefits
There are numerous benefits involved with this procedure; they are as follows:
• Lower risk of heart attack after the procedure
• Less risk of the artery re-closing
• Less shortness of breath
• Less pain from peripheral arterial disease
• Less chest pain, pressure or discomfort
• Nearly no risk of abrupt vessel closures
• Less risk of requiring emergency coronary bypass surgery
Who is an ideal candidate?
An ideal candidate would have a blocked artery in the heart.
Recovery
After the treatment, you will be asked to lie on your back and blood thinners will given (these will continue for the next 24 hours). This gives the femoral artery time to heal. You will have to stay overnight and during your time in hospital, recovering you will be continually monitored. For the first 2 days you are advised to drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration and to avoid driving, bathing and smoking. You will be administrated medication and asked to go on a special low vitamin K diet. To speed up the recovery, your doctor will encourage you to do light exercise and walking.
Preparing your surgery
Prior to the procedure, your doctor will give you blood tests, an Electrocardiogram and a chest x-ray. Due to the anesthetic, your food and drink consumption will be restricted.
Risks / Complications / Side effects
There are some possible risks and complications you ought to contemplate first before going through the procedure:
• Allergic to anesthesia
• Bleeding
• Perforation of the artery in the heart
• Spasm of the artery
• Heart arrhythmia
• Stroke
• Blood clots
• Infection
After your surgery
In the first 8 weeks after the procedure, patients will need to take antibiotics before any dental, medical or surgical procedures. It is important that no magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests are given for 5 months because the magnetic field may move the stent.