High Cholesterol

[Guest]

I had a "RCA lesion that was stented" in Nov 2001. What is the "life" of the stent or when might it need to be replaced? I am male, 64 yrs old and now, quit smoking (smoked 50 years). BP is very good & chol. is average

[Guest]

Stents are permanent and are never removed.
When coronary interventions first began all that was available was balloon angioplasty. The upside to balloon angioplasty is that one avoids major open heart surgery. The downside is the reblockage rate (restenosis) was up to 50% within 6-8 months after the initial procedure. Many newer techniques have been attempted in order to reduce the restenosis rate. Stents have reduced the restenosis rate to the 15-20% range. If you do get restenosis inside the stent, we are now treating this with radiation therapy which then results in a restenosis rate of 5%.
We are now also experimenting drug eluding stents which in early trials seem very promising
[quote] I had a "RCA lesion that was stented" in Nov 2001. What is the "life" of the stent or when might it need to be replaced... [/quote]