Stents vs. Bypass Surgery

[ItsMeDonna854]

My mom was taken to the ER yesterday.  It was determined she had a minor heart attack.  She had angioplasty and one artery (can't tell you which one) was 99% blocked.  All her other major ones were at least 50% blocked with some smaller ones being 90% blocked.  My mother was told by the cardiologist that she should go ahead and do bypass surgery, and not to wait too long, but she's deathly afraid of it.  She's feeling fine after having one stent put in and wants to know if you can just do all stents or would there be a reason not to do stents vs. bypass surgery?  An timely response would be appreciated!

Donna Olson

[anacyde]

Hello Donna.  Sorry to hear about your mother's health and concerns.

Stents are typically favored as the first line of treatment when an artery is severely occluded.  However, there are cases when a stent is not a viable treatment option.  In my father's case, a stent was attempted, his artery was perforated and he needed an emergency bypass anyhow.  I would trust the doctors on this.  I understand her fears, but bypass surgeries are highly successful.

I wish her the very best with her treatment and health.

[ItsMeDonna854]

Thank you so much for your input!  Me being a CNA, my gut feeling was that he was telling her to go with byprass surgery for a reason, based on what he found during the angioplasty procedure.  Since I'm not there and don't know all the intimate details, its hard for me to do any viable research, but I did tell her I'd ask for her.  At least she can have peace knowing she made an informed decision.

[fwest]

Hi my name is frank  for 2 months  i had pain in my stomach that was burning and worked all the way up to my jaw  i finnually  called the doctor ekg  was bad sent me to er  got angograhm  lad was 90% and a another atery was 75 they wanted to do bypass i beg for stents they said it was like building a house with thumd tacks  they told me with in days if i did not get a bypass i could have a end of life heart attack because lad normally causes  death also  my heart attact  was a non ste heart attact i am on;y 48 years old  9 weeks still have pain  arterys when they did surgery calafied  how did this happen at such a young age and why not stents does the pain  go away commplety its been nine weeks is it becase they used the mammery artery

[ed34]

It all depends on the severity of the disease. If there are just a few blockages that are
giving trouble and the disease isn't running all the way down the arteries, then stenting
will be prefered by the cardiologist. However, if there are lots of blockages and the disease is lining nearly all the arteries, bypass seems to be the best option.
I had an angiogram before my bypass surgery and the cardiologist said it would take a
bucket load of stents to resolve my problems. Even though I protested at this being just
a slight exaggeration, they would only offer me a bypass at the time.
When opting for a bypass, I suggest you insist they use the arteries from the chest
if they are in good enough condition rather than veins because they do last much longer.
Bypass surgery is actually very safe even though it's dealing with the heart. They have
so much equipment in there to deal with emergency situations, such as bypass machines. None of this exists in an angio suite. They have to rush you by trolley to the
nearest theatre if anything goes wrong, wasting valuable minutes.