angioplasty
 

has anyone here ever had an angioplasty done? did you get a stent put in as well? if you had the option to go back would you do it again? my dad is getting one done in a few days and is rather nervous about it. im just curious if anyone here has had one done or if a family member did and if it was successful or what they thought about it.

I dont think i would go for a stent except as the very last option after all other options have been exhausted. And then I still would have to think very hard about it.

whats an angiopatsy?

The angioplasty was painless if a bit scarey

Laying absolutely still for the next 4 or 5 hours was a total PITA - especially when I started to bleed

my brother had a stent put in about 7 or 8 years ago , no problem.

I had a 4 way bypass about 4 years ago.
you don't want the bypass if you can avoid it. they split you chest with a saw, do the operation, then to close up your chest they just use 3 or 4 wires to hold it together, thats all. it never really heals up (breastbone) and it hurts like hell for months after.

An angioplasty is a procedure performed on someone they think has a blocked or close to blocked artery close to the heart

They open an artery in your groin and inject a dye and then watch on a monitor as the dye circulates.

If they have to fit a stent they then insert that through the groin and push it into place and open it up. That opens up the blocked artery and allows the blood flow to resume.

It's not a complete cure but it can add years to your life.

Fortunately I didn't need one.

yep, kinda. an angiogram is where they inject the dye to locate the blockage if any. the angioplasty is where they go in with a catheter and use a ballon to widen the blocked atery and sometimes instert a stent, they suggested my dad get a stent put in. often times when a stent isn't used the ateries just close back up again. angioplasty is nothing compared to bypass surgery, thats for sure. good to hear your brother hasn't had any problems sumphat. there is something like a 92% success rate with angioplasty, tho there is still apparently a 10% chance of a mild heart attack or damage to the heart during the procedure which is worrysome.

a good site for information is angioplasty.org

My Father has had 7 angioplasty surgies and has 4 stints in his heart now. He's also had several heart attacks etc... and he's still going strong. :thumbsup

were those stents all in different arteries, or did he have to get the same one done over and over? i guess the stents don't prevent heart attacks? but just make it go from fatal to non fatal?

Thanks for putting me straight - I have to admit that at the time I wasn't paying an aweful lot of attention. I was 52 at the time and had been in good health up until then - my father died at 54 from heart problems - so a lot of stuff they told me sort of got filtered.

It was interesting that they found nothing wrong and not long after that the chest pains went away and haven't come back.