Diabetes and Stents

Stenting has been shown to be less effective in patients with diabetes. But now a new drug-eluting stent has been approved for use in diabetic patients. Comments?

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Current Postings on This Page (8):

• Anju - High blood pressure and diabetes are sometimes present in patients with diabetes. In recent clinical stent trials, one third of patients had diabetes. Diabetics who must take insulin don't have as good outcomes, but non-insulin-dependent diabetics had the same outcomes as non-diabetics in, for example, the Resolute stent studies. That's one reason why that stent has specifically been approved for use in diabetics.
Angioplasty.Org Staff, Angioplasty.Org, June 28, 2013

• Can BP & sugar patient go for angioplasty?
Anju Agarwal, India, June 28, 2013

• Sumit in India -- We cannot dispense medical advice and yours is a complex situation. We assume, since you posted to this Topic, that you also are diabetic. The standard answer might be that bypass surgery would be the preferred therapy, but that judgement really needs to be made by a surgeon and/or interventional cardiologist who has access to your full medical history and can talk with you. If you are suffering from ischemia, it may be that only one or two of the blockages are really causing the problem, in which case stenting might be a good option. This measurement of how much ischemia is each blockage causing is something done during an angiogram, called Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR).
Angioplasty.Org Staff, Angioplasty.Org, October 3, 2012

• patient details: Heart problem - angiography is done report
LAD --Calcified vessel, 80% lesion after D1 branch
LCX -- OM2 80% lesion in proximal part
RCA--- 40% to 50% proximal lesion followed by 80% 90% before bifurcation at crux, extending to PDA origin
PDA Ostial lesion
PLV Normal
DIAGNOSIS ---CAD TRIPLE VESSEL DISEASE LY DYSFUCTIONPLEASE TELL ME ANGIOPLASTY IS POSSIBLE FOR ABOVE DIAGNOSIS OR BYPASS IS NECESSARY
sumit, New Delhi, India, October 3, 2012

• Hi sir. Thank you for your reply. I feel pain exactly between the chest when i walked for about 10 minutes. Rarely I become breathless when I sleep.
akbar, safi, Pakistan, July 29, 2012

• Akbar -- Much depends on your symptoms -- are you experiencing angina and shortness of breath? Are you taking medications and doing what you can to lower your risk factors? If so, and if you are still having symptoms that limit you, opening up the blockages may be helpful. Whether to open them up with stents or with bypass surgery is the question. Years ago bypass would be the first choice for your condition. But techniques and devices have improved a lot and today stenting is certainly feasible -- even in diabetics. For example, Medtronic's Resolute Integrity drug-eluting stent was recently approved for use in diabetics by the FDA in the U.S. You might want to discuss your situation with both an interventional cardiologist (one who does angioplasty and stenting) and a cardiac surgeon (who does bypass surgery) as to your risks/benefits from either procedure.
Angioplasty.Org Staff, Angioplasty.Org, July 28, 2012

• Hi. I am 72 years old and have diabetes and cardiac problem. My angiography report is: LAD 100% blocked; LCX 83%; RCA 50%. Can stent help for my problem?
akbar, safi, Pakistan, July 28, 2012

• A new development in the treatment of coronary artery disease in diabetic patients is the approval from the FDA for a new stent, the Resolute Integrity Zotarolimus-Eluting Stent, the first and only drug-eluting stent specifically indicated for use in diabetic patients. Diabetics are at greater risk for heart disease, yet the non-surgical alternative of angioplasty with stenting has had higher chances of repeat procedures. This new stent has been shown in large studies to be efficacious in the treatment of coronary artery disease. Curious to hear from patients about diabetes and stenting.
Angioplasty.Org Staff, Angioplasty.Org, February 26, 2012

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