Can you bypass after stents?

[tsb627]

Six years ago my husband had a stent placed at the top of the LAD, he had restenosis in 6 months, they did radiation therapy and placed 2 more stents.  6 monhs later he had another stent and then in a month  2 two more.  A couple of them they said artery was 60 or 70% but while they were in there they decided to stent it in one place he was having spasms.  The last 2 were des.  About 4 weeks ago he started having some chest pain on exertion but it would usually go away so he wasn't worried at first, last week they got worse he was scheduled for stress test, he couldn't finish that they did a cath and most of his lad was blocked, Dr.  said he went up to 22 atmospheres? to ballon it out but still not very good flow.  His right coronary artery is actually 20% better than when his first stent was put in.  Dr. didn't want to do a bypass because of all the stents and he put another stent in at the top of lad.  He's was on Zocor 10 mg., Tricor, Norvasc 5 mg, and Plavix.  They've now added Carvedilol 3.125 2x/day and Lisinopril 2.5mg.  Ejection is 55%, Cholesterol-119, LDL-64, HDL-29, and Triglycerides-131.  BP is usually 120-130 over 80 pulse 60.  My husband is 60 years old, no other health problems,does chew some snuff, 5 ft. 10in  209 lbs.  No diabetes.  The dr. seemed very discouraged and couldn't understand all this blockage after 5 years, what do you think is wrong and do you agree he shouldn't have bypass?

[Encephalomalcia]

As far as the bypass surgery, I would get a second opinion.  I know someone who had to have a bypass because one of his stents plugged up with cholesterol.  I do not remember how many stents he had, but I think it was possibly no more than three.  Find a top heart surgeon in your area to get a second opinion.