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Heart Disease  (Expert Forum)
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Travel after stenting
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests.

Travel after stenting

by Marcy__0__0, Nov 11, 1998 12:00AM

  Approximately 2 months ago my 78 friend had a stent inserted after having suffered an MI, with subsequent restarting of his heart twice.  He spent 5 weeks in the hospital and 7 weeks at home.  He was told to take a stress test so he could begin Phase 2 cardiac rehab.  His stress test lasted 2 1/2 minutes because his legs gave out.  He has made an appointment to start phast 2, but now hewants totake a vacation to Hawaii (9 hours by plane).   Is travel for this length of period safe?  He asked his cardiologist, but did not receive a reply.
Dear Marcy
Your friend's performance on the stress test was extremely poor. It suggests that he is severely deconditioned (out of shape). I would recommend further cardiac rehabilitation in a supervised setting before the sort of vacation that you are talking about. It is not so much the flight that worries me, as it is his stress test performance - being able to last only 2 minutes on a treadmill after a heart attack puts him at very high risk of future cardiac problems.
I hope you find this information useful.  Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only.  Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions.
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter.   The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.





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