ten years after a triple bypass

[jak49]

Hello
I am a 60 year old female. In February of 2001, I experienced chest pain during a walk.  I ended up having a triple
bypass.  In August of 2009, again, during a walk, I experienced chest tightless and I was out of breath.  I then
had an angioplasty and stent placement, in one artery and they found that I had an artery that was totally blocked.
The doctor said that it was distally too short to do a bypass.  During the angiogram, he only found two of the
grafts that were done in 2001.  He said that my heart looked fine.   I just had a thallium stress test a few days
ago and today I received the results.  The nurse told me that my heart has scar tissue, I am assuming near the
unlocated graft and the totally blocked artery.  That means, that I have only three arteries left.  I would like to know
if anything can be done to make certain that the vein grafts stay and if stents can be placed in them, or if there
can be any other treatments.   I was told that a graft only lasts 10 years, so I am nervous.  I have a feeling that
my heart will not live as long as I would like to live.  Two years ago, I had a thallium stress test and that doctor
told me that the grafts looked good for a few more years, but totally missed the blocked arteries.  I did change
cardiologists.

Does anyone have any comments or suggestions.

Thank You for your time and consideration.   jak49

[kenkeith]

You're welcome and thanks for your response. Take care.

[jak49]

Thank You so much for your input and your insight.  I wish that my doctor could
explain things as well as you do.  I feel a bit reassured now.  Prior to your explanation,
I thought that I would have the two vein grafts collapse and I would just go into
Congestive heart failure, because the doctor was talking about Heart Failure.

Thanks again......jak49

[kenkeith]

A CABG or stent implants does not cure coronary artery disease it only treats the symptoms.  You must help yourself by regular exercise, heart healthy diet, etc. Often treatment can medication to address and effectively treat chest pain (angina).  I have for more than 6 years a completely blocked LAD and 72% blocked ICX.  Medication helps reduce the heart's workload and relief from any chest pain.

Your totally blocked artery that supplied oxygenated blood to an area may now being fed by other blood vessels.  Also, the blockage is located distally and may be of little significance to the overall functionality of the heart and may be the area of dead heart cells.  A stent or CABG would be of no benefit.  Stents can be implanted in grafts.

For some insight, vein grafts are more susceptible to closing up than the Internal Mammary Artery (IMA).The terms single bypass, double bypass, triple bypass, quadruple bypass and quintuple bypass refer to the number of coronary arteries bypassed in the procedure. You may have had 3 coronary arteries bypassed and two grafts!?

"(IMA) -- can last a long time for those grafts to be open ("patent") -- why they (or any artery) closes up is still not really known -- when it is we'll be a long way toward conquering coronary artery disease. In any case, it would be a good sign that they lasted so long. And yes, it is possible to have more angioplasties or even a second bypass -- although each case is individual".