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Current Postings on This Page (7):
• Marjory -- completely blocked arteries are called
"total occlusions" and, if they have been blocked for some time, they
are considered "chronic". If surgery is not possible in your case,
you may want to consult an interventional cardiologist who specializes
in Chronic
Total
Occlusions or CTOs. There are not many because this is a very difficult
area, but not an unknown one. For instance, last month we attended
a live demonstration course in New York where Dr. Shigeru Saito of
Japan opened three total
occlusions
in one
afternoon. He is one of the world's experts in this field. The Cardiology
Research Foundation (they put on the big TCT interventional cardiology
meeting in Washington every fall) has
a special annual meeting devoted to CTOs. All this is by way of saying
that CTOs are done, but by cardiologists who specialize in them. Perhaps
contact
the Montreal
Heart Institute -- they are a major center and may have physicians
who do CTOs.
Also it is very hard to evaluate a CTO with a standard
angiogram, which
shows
a 2-dimensional "shadow" image of the arteries. Most cardiologists
want to see a CT angiogram, or multislice CT, which gives much more detail
about the occluded area (how long, whether the plaque is hardened, etc.).
Finally, very often in such cases, the body manufactures collaterals,
which are smaller arteries that deliver some blood flow. Good luck and
let
us know what you find out.
Forum Editor, Angioplasty.Org, May 4, 2008
• I have had an angiogram
which shows 2 arteries 100 blocked and the 3rd 90 percent blocked.
Is there nothing that can be done to help me. I am on .08 nitro patches
during the day but at night I take them off but need my spray 3 or
4 times a night. I sleep sitting up. Am I really just waiting to
die? Apparently I cannot have bypass as the arteries are so blocked
there
is nothing to sew the bypass onto. What about something to clean
out the plaque somehow? I heard something about cold laser.
Marjory Sturgeon, Prescott, Ontario, Canada, April 27, 2008
• Did you find any solution of your problem? I have recently got my angiography
and my LAD is also 100% blocked at two points. Two well known cardiologists have
suggested angioplasty and they claim that they can handle the problem whereas
4-5 specialists have concluded that bypass is the only solution to the problem.
Tariq Mahmood, Pinstech, Pakistan, June 1, 2004
• My mother in law,
who is 82 years old recently under went an angiogram which revealed
3 totally closed arteries and three partially closed arteries. What
are her options?
Joseph Sartori, Colonial Beach, Virginia, USA, September 5, 2003
• Are
there any new techniques to get the guide wire through a chronic restenosed
total occlusion in the RCA? One reason I was hoping this is the case,
that the the August 5, 2001 article in Circulation by Dr Gregg W Stone
regarding the new clot busting drugs prior to angioplasty improve results.
Besttt, September 14,
2001
• LASER,
special PTCA wires, sometimes Rotablators However, the clot busting
drugs don't tend to work on chronic lesions such as the one you mentioned
as they work on reasonably fresh clots. LASER wire is certainly an
option, you need to find a centre that does it though! I hope this
helps you
Andrina, Prince Sultan Cardiac Centre,
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, February 10, 2002
• I recently had my first angiogram performed.
It showed a 100% blockage in mid LAD. My Cadiologist said that he could
not open
this blockage with angioplasty and that surgical bypass would be necessary.
Due to my health and age this would be rather risky. Anyone who knows if
and where I could get angioplasty performed on this 100% blocked coronary
artery please let me know.
Burnett Johnson, Retired, Baytown, Texas, USA,, May 20, 2001
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