So glad I found this!!
I'm 51/m Like a lot of you, I thought I was in this alone.. I just had my tenth (and biggest one, 4mmx15mm, drug elud.. 2nd obtuse marginal, 90%)plus I have a pacemaker/defib). I am still having a great deal of chest pain, sweating ALOT, with cramping in shins, feet and hands, no energy and just not feeling as good as I think I should. I have not had this much problem since my heart attack in '04. Heart dr says there's only one artery with a 40% blockage left, so he doesn't think its heart pain. I happen to think it is, at least the pain in my left chest that goes through to my shoulder blade. Really tired of going to docs (I had to literally insist on this last cath because they just didn't think it was a blockage. After my 9th stent, I think I'm a pretty good judge by now)
Sorry for rambling...I guess my first question is about the prolonged pain, etc. does this sound normal?
Roto rooting does cause damage and can still leave you with the same option of scar tissue/clots. If you are unsuitable for stenting, which some people are not, then the best option would be bypass.
Last September I had a stent placed inside a drug eluting stent that had been placed 8 yrs earlier. There was no significant increase in plaque build up but it had become blocked with scar tissue and a clot. The team at Mayo Clinic
in Rochester, MN was able to poke through the scar tissue and open it up to 80% so they could place another stent inside but what happens when that one has the same problem in another 8 yrs? I can't keep putting stents inside of stents for ever. This seems too much like a way to insure repeat business and basically signs a long term death warrant for the patient. What about the roto rooter option? I would think it would be able also clean out the scar tissue without injuring the artery wall..
Everything that you posted I agree with. My dad's doctor told us the very same thing about his grafts. And to add to what you said about a second stent inside the first stent is exactly what they did to the stent I have in my RCA. The first was beginnng to become blocked so they virtually put a stent inside a stent. Take care! Ally
Is it possible someone told you 15 years who was getting confused with bypass surgery?
The life expectancy of vein grafts is 10-15 years on 'average'.
I don't know who told you that a stent lasts approx 15 years. I have never heard of this and it is basically believed it will last the natural life of the patient. The key is to control two problems associated with stents. 1) restenosis. This is where scar tissue forms over the inside of the stent, causing a blockage. With the newer Drug eluting stents this risk has dramatically been reduced. 2) clotting. This is a problem with both bare metal stents and drug eluting stents. Plavix is a medication (usually given with aspirin), which helps inhibit platelet activity, hence reducing the clotting problem.
I had a stent put into my Obtuse Marginal (OM1) three years ago, and an angiogram has shown there is no blockage of any kind forming. Although the rest of the vessel has no disease, the stented section is actually wider than the rest.
Stents CAN be removed but after usually much closer to the time of insertion. You have to remember that a Stent is a mesh tube and normal tissue grows through the mesh to form a new lining to the artery. This will basically make the stent a part of the artery, burying it in the artery and this would be virtually impossible to remove without destroying the vessel. However, there is no reason why a second stent couldn't be placed inside the first one.