Responses:

• I had an angioplasty and stents placed in a 90% and 70% blockage in the intermediate circumflex artery. Do these procedures always fail over time and is it always necessary to have these procedures repeated?
Linda Little, , Rancho Cucamonga, California, USA, 4 Jan 2001

• My 88 yr old mother has had four angioplasty procedures with the placement of a stint within a stint on the same coronary artery in less than a year - the physician states he cannot do a bypass mainly because of mitral valve stenosis - does anyone have any ideas about this? She does fine for about three or four months and then it seems to close off - she is a very active individual. Thanks.
JKMerriman, , Lakewood, Colorado, USA, 14 Jan 2001

• I had an ACS Multilink stent put inside my left anterior escending artery, on 1/15/99(3 x 23mm.). Anyone familiar with this? I have been exercising steadily, 2 to 3 days a week at a gym, after attending a cardio-rehab program at the hospital. Currently, I play ice hockey one day a week and take a 40 minute brisk walk 5 days a week. I seem to be doing well. I take lipitor, toprol, isosorbide, and norvasq, but I would like to get my doctor to start to reduce this medication. Anyone taking these and / or gone through the same procedures?
B. Cunningham, , Canton, Massachusetts, USA, 1 Mar 2001
 
• Actually an angiogram and a catheterization are different terms for the same procedure -- but I sincerely hope the table doesn't go upside-down! Technology has changed quite a bit since then. Good luck on your test.
Forum Editor, PTCA.ORG, March 19, 2000

• I'm M, 50 & had cath/stent done about a month ago at Morristown Mem. Hosp. in NJ. I can't say enough good things about the folks there - they are an outstanding group, and made a potentially scary situation go incredibly smoothly. Not only were they knowledgable and sensitive, they even managed to find a Faith Hill CD to play while the procedure was performed! It turned out I had a 90%+ blockage of the LDA. Since then, the follow-up nuclear stress test shows normal flow, function well into the normal range & no muscle damage. I'm anxious to get started with the rehab program. I'd just like to respond to Nurse Marinescu's post above. I guess there are always going to be some people who are unhappy with whatever treatment they receive, unfortunately. But as for me, my hat is off to you. The Foley that my O/R nurse hooked up for me was a great kindness indeed (really)! As for the frequent inspection of the insertion site, ok, it might be a nuisance if you're dozing off, but hey, it's also very comforting to know that someone cares enough to keep on top of the situation. Any of us who have been through the procedure are aware (or at least should be) of just how important our care-givers were, and I'm grateful.
Frank Fecher, Long Valley New Jersey, USA, 27 Mar 2001

• I am a 31 year old female who underwent cardiac ablation surgery in 1999, a complication of this surgery was the stenosis of my pulmonary vein. About one year after surgery I started becoming short of breath and had chest pains. Upon a CT scan and Chest X-ray, the doctors noticed that I had about 15 lesions in the upper chamber of my lung. We then did a biopsy and discovered that the vein was closed, and a bloot clot had formed. My question to you is, there is a new procedure angioplasty then inserting a stent in the pulmonary vein. There is not a lot of info. on this procedure. I have spoken with a pedatric cardiologist at CHKD in VA and he has performed the surgery once and is ready to do it again. I am scared becuase, I jumped in with the cardiac ablation and ended up with this. HELP, I just need to know where to go to get info on this procedure.
Ann Marie Webb, Norfolk, Virginia, USA, 2 Jul 2001

• I had 70% blockage. The stent saved my life.North Shore Hospital has extremely competent nurses and Doctors. My stay was for 3 days.I was not told to follow any particular diet, however I am on a no fat low fat program.
Anne F.Levine, , Neponsit,New York 11694, 30 Sep 2001

• Hi! I had angioplasty with installed stents last week on three 90% blockages. My question: why aren't we allowed to receive morphine or other painkiller during the operation? I suffered a lot.
François Faucher, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 15 Oct 2001

• I had an angioplasty one week ago to restore blood flow in my leg. One week after the procedure I have a large haemotoma in my abdomen which is extremely painful and the hole in my artery is not yet healed. My specialist says I should bear the pain and that I will feel relief within the next week or so. Has anyone had a similar experience and, if so, could they let me know how long they took to get relief
Betty, retired, Rye, Australia, 8 Nov 2001

• I had angioplasty in Oct. 2001. I developed an hematoma which was horrible. My whole leg turned purple and my stenting ws put off 4 weeks, so I could heal. I had the stenting and bruised again and now I have to have another surgery next week because I have a huge swollen ball on my hip which will not go down, as a result of stenting. Has anybody else experienced this? Please email me.
Tracy Richardson, Texas, USA, 7 Dec 2001

• Hi, I am a 25 year old female who is recovering from an angioplasty procedure done about 5 days ago. I was born with a congenital condition which is called coarctation of the aorta, which was repaired during surgery when I was 5 years old. I had re-stenosis of the artery, which is common once a person gets older, usually in the 20's, and my doctor recommended angioplasty with an aortic stent placement. Everything went really well and the entire experience wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. (yup, I had general anesthesia, bladder catheters, bed pans, lying flat on my back for a good 8-10 hours, nurses checking me a million times an hour, etc. All of this is a really annoying but they are just making sure that you are ok.) I also had alot of discomfort which goes along with a procedure of this nature. I had saved myself alot of worrying and grief by reading as much as I possibly could about the procedure online, and asked my doctor anything I could think of that I was concerned of, and this really helped alot when I was going through all of it. I went into the hospital at 6am in the morning and went home the next day after noon and I am doing very well. I had trouble walking during the first day or two of coming home, and slept for like 2 days straight, but am feeling alot better now and am going back to work tomorrow. I still have alot of brusing and some slight pain in my groin and thigh area, but most of the discomfort has gone away. I really recommend that people who are going to undergo any kind of angiplasty procedure to find out as much as they possibly can before they have it done, so they definitely know what to expect. I did and it helped me so much. I hope that writing this response helps somebody out there who has to deal with this procedure. Thanks! :)
Carla, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 9 Dec 2001

• Had two stents inserted in Right Coronary Artery in May 98. No problems. Also suffer from COPD. Had angioplasty in Dec 2000 to open same area-restenosis.Three weeks later went to pulmonologist and lung function was down from 51% to 39% over past year. Is this related to stenosis or angioplasty?
Jerry D. Lewis, Jayco, Inc, Shallotte, NC 28459 USA, 2 Feb 2001

• Had angioplasty one month ago at the age of 62. Previously I never been an inpatient and considered as reasonably healthy. Had pain around my heart and failed the stress test. Naturally felt apprehension on the day before the operation. To look back I prepared myself pretty well knowing what to expect through reading various forums in the net. The actual "operation" took just about one hour and was able to sight the 99% blockage on the video afterwards and wondered how I could have survived before if it were not for my previous quarterly check-up. I was not aware of the insertion through the groin and even asked the doctor when he would start after the operation was completed. The burdensome part was thereafter having to lie flat for eight hours and not allowed to move on your right leg. Fortunately I was well prepared for this eventuality in listening to my cd's which were previously bought and never had time to listen to. Both the doctor and the nurses! were quite surprised with the light classical music blaring in the room which made that eight hours just bearable. I adhered to all the instructions and able to recover pretty quickly after two days though feeling physically weak for a week. Thereafter have been feeling great in breathing fully, no longer grasping for air or having headache and my face seems to be flushing all the time. Now I am surfing through the net for information on the 20% chance of restenosis (close up through thrombosis) and ways to avoid this chance. So far the gathered information has not been that great but comforting to know so many who have gone through more than one angioplasty and also the new stent (not yet well tested) that could reduce the chance to zero. I hope by the time I need another angioplasty the new revolutionary stent is recommended for general use. I am ever grateful to those who wrote and shared their experience with the sufferers. It means so much to all of us when facing with this uncertainty. My doctor was great on his technical know-how but short on bedside manner. I still remember after the treadmill test he pronounceed loudly (perhaps with pride) that I am a cardiac victim and was stared at by four nurses as a strange creature. At that moment I felt ashamed on being highlighted and the whole world turned upside down. Fortunately Iam an experienced net surfer -- with the knowledge gathered from various websites, I didn't see the news as that bad and helped to soften the doctor's blow immensely.
Aileen, Ek-Siriwit Company Limited, Bangkok, Thailand, 31 Dec 2001
 

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