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stents

How many stents in an artery in the same place can be put in befor open heart has to be done, I have two in now and wonder how many more times I get it easy.  
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976897 tn?1379167602
Unfortunately in some people scar tissue can grow quite quickly and fiercely. In some cases, one stent inserted inside another can resolve the issue, but not always. If you imagine the stent being a mesh, not much of the chemical touches the artery, there are many open spaces in the stent. A second stent inserted, overlapping the first, will make the spaces smaller.
A high number of people have medicated stents and form no scar tissue, or very little, which is why they are still being used.
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63984 tn?1385437939
Wow, that was fast for the blockages to re-occur.  As Ed suggested in an earlier reply to another poster, was your dad taking a statin, aspirin and Plavix?  Another question, is your father diabetic and if so, well controlled?

I've had a problem with blockages also, but there are differences.  In my case, I've had eight stents, and all are patent, e.g., open, but had two new blockages in native arteries that needed opening and stents weren't an option and I had bypass surgery two years ago.  The bypasses occluded like your father's stents and can't be reopened.

My cholesterol levels are perfect, but my diabetes has been difficult to keep where it needs to be even though I have a BMI of less than 25, and it is thought this is a factor so I'm back to injecting.

With CAD, it is a struggle.  Don't give up on the drugs, and encourage the doctors to examine all possibilities.  Keep us informed.
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Avatar universal
my father just had 3 stents placed in march. left main, left circumflex and the LAD. all 3 were coated with medicine. its now sept and all 3 had to be restented. they were all 90-99% blocked with scar tissue. so the use of medicated coated ones doesn't really make that much of a difference.
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976897 tn?1379167602
But did they say what the stenosis was caused by? A drug eluting stent very rarely becomes stenosed by scar tissue but is at just the same risk from clotting as a bare metal stent. That's why a mixture of Plavix and Aspirin are prescribed.
It is an interesting question you pose, regarding different healing rates and quantity of scar tissue produced across different patients.
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Avatar universal
I wonder if they take into concideration how fast you heal or repair skin damage on your own when they put a stent in an artery,! if you are a fast healer or make scar tissue fast, makes you wonder? one week after they put a medicated stent inside a metal one it had 20% stenosis
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976897 tn?1379167602
I've only heard of two. This is usually when the first stent was a bare metal variety and has formed scar tissue, causing restenosis. Then a drug eluting stent is inserted inside which is coated with chemicals to inhibit scar tissue formation. I know that bare metal stents are cheaper but I really don't know why they don't bin them now.
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Avatar universal
thank you, but how many can be put inside each other I one inside one allready and it is 50% block all ready
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976897 tn?1379167602
It isn't so matter a case of how many, it's more a case of where the disease is and how severe. If the blockages are in easily accessible areas of the arteries, you could in theory just have stents all the time.
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