When is stent placement required?
A stent is a hollow metallic mesh that is placed in the coronary artery usually just after angioplasty. Stent placement helps to prevent the artery from narrowing again (restenosis). It ensures there is enough room for the blood to flow, leading to oxygen and nutrients supply to the heart muscles.
Do you know that around 2 million patients get coronary artery stents every year?
When is stent placement required?
Stent makes sure that there is an uninterrupted blood supply to the heart muscles. Stent are placed in cases where there is a lack of blood supply to the heart due to clogging of a blood vessel as seen in:
- Atherosclerosis, a condition where plaque builds up in the inner lining of the blood vessel causing the artery wall to thicken and lose elasticity.
- Coronary Artery Disease: the arteries supplying the heart become narrow which may cause angina, heart attack, and even congestive heart failure.
Types of cardiac stent:
- Bare metal stent: These stents are made up of stainless steel with no coating on it. They are used to widen the blood vessels after angioplasty. As the blood vessels heal there is growth around the stent which helps the stent to stay in place. Sometimes the scar tissues increases resulting in blockage of blood vessels.
- Drug-eluting stent: These stents are coated with medicine which is released after the stent is placed. The medicine coat prevents scar tissue growth in the arterial lining. The only drawback of this kind of stents is that healing is delayed.
- Bioengineered stent: These stents are coated with antibiotics which fastens the natural healing process. This type of stent not only prevents restenosis but also reduces the risk of clot formation.
- Bioresorbable vascular scaffold: This type of scaffold is absorbed by the body over a period of time. These scaffolds are not very effective as with time chances of restenosis increases and healing of the arterial lining also takes time.
What to expect during placement of stent:
The stent is placed just after angioplasty. Before angioplasty is performed patient is administered blood-thinning medicines to avoid blood clots.
A catheter is inserted either through arm, groin, or wrist. The doctor will carefully guide the catheter to the heart arteries where there is a blockage. The blockage which is mainly plague is removed usually with the help of balloon angioplasty. After the plague is removed a wire mesh tube also known as a stent is placed in the area that was previously clogged. The stent is inserted along with the balloon catheter. The stent expands when the balloon is inflated and is left there to prevent restenosis.
Post-operative care
The patient after stent placement is kept in the hospital for 2-3 days. Patients recover in a week time. Patients need to lie flat at least 6 hours after the surgery. Maybe after 2 hours the head can be raised a bit.
Other changes that need to be taken after surgery are:
- Eat healthy food
- Manage weight
- Quit smoking
- Reduce alcohol consumption
- Reduce caffeine intake
- Reduce stress
- Keep a check on blood cholesterol levels
- Control blood pressure
- Exercise regularly
When to see a doctor post-operation
You need to see a doctor as soon as possible if you feel the following symptoms:
- Pain in chest
- Shortness of breath
- Fever
- Pus accumulation at the site of catheter insertion
- Redness at the site of catheter insertion
- Swelling
- Pain in the area adjacent to the site of catheter insertion.
- Bleeding at the site of catheter insertion
You have mentioned four types of stents? which one is the better
Hello Vidit,
The consulting doctor will choose the best stent for the patient.
The doctor calculates keeping the pros and cons of all the types of the stent while advising the patient.
Drug-eluting stent and bioengineered stent are however considered to be the best stent.
The doctor is the one who takes the final call for the best type of stent for the patient.
How much it cost per stent placement?
Hey Sakshi,
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has fixed the prices of drug-eluting stents in a range between ₹40,000 and ₹1.98 lakh.
Similarly, bare metal stents cost patients between ₹30,000 and ₹75,000 on an average.
However, this is the cost of stent only, besides the procedural and post-operative cost.
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