Thanks for the link - I really hope I do not have this based on what I read......hope that they left room for a bypass if needed w/o having to do something radical.
Thanks for the responses. This is certainly an item of interest for me. I hope to be able to avoid a CABG, but just seems that eventually that will be the requirement. I'm just hoping to put it off for as long as possible, since I'm only 40 and have seen a few posts by people or their family whose bypass(es) have failed but can not do another due to a lack of available veins/arteries to do the procedure. Jack, I wish you well w/ your trip to Cleveland. If I ever do get to the point where I have to have the procedure, I think I will likely asked to be sent to Cleveland to have it done. I really like my cardiologist in Kansas, but think the surgeons at Cleveland are likely the best in the world.
I know that cardio/thoracic surgeons have to have a "target". I have 3.19 inches of my Lad stented starting at the beginning or ostial. So I have been interested in this subject. I think that anyone who is about to receive a stent or stents that will prevent bypass surgery should be told, while on the table.
My cardio told me 6 weeks ago "no more stents for you, now we are trying to keep you away from the surgeons". I am going to break the news to him that I am going for MID-CAB surgery evaluation and hopefully the surgery, at the Cleveland Clinic next month. I am having way too much angina after receiving a stent on May 26 th, 2007.
The first 3 inches of my Lad have some tiny and not so tiny branches. I wonder what will happen to these if the stents become fully closed after bypass surgery?
I was told by the CC doctor that placed my last stent that the only imaging technique is a cardiac cath, as far as checking for blockages in a stent. It is a matter of life or death and my last blockage would not have been detected if not for the IVUS technology
I have read where the 64 slice ct scan and/or the very latest MRI equipment can see "inside" the stent, but I would not bet my life on it.
May the force be with your many stents :)
Jack
Well, I guess I stand corrected??
I can't see a stent posing a problem. After all, they're in your chest hacking away at arteries and stuff. Seems like a stent could be removed if it was at a bad spot.
Investigation continues.................film at 11.
There was someone who posted on here a while ago who'd had a stent positioned such that it prevented a bypass. I can't remember the details though.
Don't know about the pictures, but I doubt that stents would cause any problems with bypass surgery. I had 3 when I had mine, and nobody ever mentioned them. They will be just like blockages in the arteries--bypassed.