Bunches Of Clots After Stent

My mother developed systemic clots after stenting and died. What could have caused this?

Current Postings (3):

• Mary Ann: So sorry to hear your story. My husband's story is very similar to your mother's, except that he survived. He ended up having to have an emergency quad bypass. We were told he had an extensive network of collaterals when he suffered his first heart attack at 47. That's what must've kept him alive. His DES clotted within 2 days and they ended up inserting 4 more stents in the same artery to open it up. Two months later, he entered the hospital to open up his other blocked artery. At that time they realized his original 5 stents had clotted once again. His other 90% blockage was also fully blocked and his 30% blockage had increased to 80% blocked. In other words - he had a massive amount of clots, despite being on Plavix, aspirin, Lipitor, etc. He was having a heart attack at the time of his last angiogram and at the time of bypass surgery. He did experience an allergic reaction (hives, swollen lips) between his procedures (about 2 weeks after the stents were inserted). The doctors believe it was to the ace inhibitor that he was on. I'm concerned that he was allergic to the stents and that perhaps all of that clotting was due to inflammation in his arteries. If he does have an allergy to the stents and it is giving him hives and swelling on the outside, what would it be doing to him on the inside, to his arteries? Perhaps your mother was allergic to the stent or something in the procedure? My husband has gone from being a very active, athletic, "healthy-on-the-outside" person, to a man with a much lower energy level and limitations, since the insertion of those stents and then surgery. I am determined to get answers, too. Good luck to you!
SYP, New Hampshire, USA, February 2, 2007

• Mary Ann -- cannot say how sorry we are to read this story. We don't have an answer -- this is not a typical case, but somehow her platelets were activated and couldn't be controlled. We assume she was on heparin (a blood thinner) during the procedure. Do you know what kind of stents were used? Drug-eluting? Bare Metal? There is a risk of about 2 in 1,000 of death during an angioplasty. Once again, our sympathies. Any readers out there have any info?
Angioplasty.Org Staff, Angioplasty.Org, January 31, 2007

• My mom started having pain in her arms last week. She went to her dr, had an EKG and everything looked ok, so he gave her some NSAID painkillers but they didn't work. She went in for a stress test today but couldn't run long enough to complete it so they sent her for an angiogram. They found one artery 100% blocked, one 99% blocked and one 90% blocked. They inserted stents into the last 2 and then took her to recovery. She got chest pains so they took her back into the procedure room. They tell me she developed "many" clots in "all of her coronary vessels" - even the ones they "never touched". They tried breaking them up with wires, giving all kinds of blood, etc, but despite everything, new clots kept forming. They couldn't get her blood pressure up for long enough even to allow her to have emergency open heart surgery. She died 6 hours ago at the age of 52. No one could explain to me why this happened?? Why did her body respond that way?? I just can't believe this has happened. It was just supposed to be a simple test and a simple fix according to the cardiologist and now my mother is dead. Can anyone give me any thoughts on why this happened?
Mary Ann Starr, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, January 26, 2007

 

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