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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Is The Longevity Of Medicated Stents?

I am 65 years old. I am very active as I play badminton 3 times a week for more then 30 years. Sometime in 2009 I had angioplasty done. Three of my arteries were blocked and the heart surgeon were successful in implanting 3 medicated heart stens. I had been taking medication since then to lower my blood cholesterol and blood thinning medicine. Since then I have been as active both in my work schedule and exercise. My question is how long will the medicated stens last? And do I get the same symptoms of impending heart attack like numbness of the left arm, sweating and fatigue, if the stens are not functioning?
Mon, 29 Jun 2015
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Cardiologist,  's  Response
Hello. Thank you for the question and welcome to HCM. I will try to be as thorough as I can.

There is a vast body of data from various studies about medicated stents (drug-eluting stents). We can always restrict our discussion to the rate of blockage within the stent (intrastent re-stenosis). DE stents are like bare metal stents (BMS), except that they have a lining with a cytostatic (anti-proliferative) drug (tacrolimus, everolimus etc.). When a stent is placed, the innermost lining of the artery acts against it by over-proliferating, and this is the drug that inhibits this phenomenon. The rate of intrastent re-stenosis, with these medicated stents, is about 4% and the maximum risk for this to happen is during the first year after it was placed.

Now, given that you once had the need to place three stents to your coronary arteries, puts you in a group of population with a risk of further developing coronary artery disease. I am not saying this to scare you. It is just to inform you that symptoms can happen one day again, or may never happen again. Whether these symptoms, if they appear, are from intrastent re-stenosis or a new-developed stenosis in a coronary artery, we cannot be sure until a coronary angiogram is carried out. You should consult your cardiologist, should your symptoms happen in the future.

I hope I was helpful. Take care. Good day.
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What Is The Longevity Of Medicated Stents?

Hello. Thank you for the question and welcome to HCM. I will try to be as thorough as I can. There is a vast body of data from various studies about medicated stents (drug-eluting stents). We can always restrict our discussion to the rate of blockage within the stent (intrastent re-stenosis). DE stents are like bare metal stents (BMS), except that they have a lining with a cytostatic (anti-proliferative) drug (tacrolimus, everolimus etc.). When a stent is placed, the innermost lining of the artery acts against it by over-proliferating, and this is the drug that inhibits this phenomenon. The rate of intrastent re-stenosis, with these medicated stents, is about 4% and the maximum risk for this to happen is during the first year after it was placed. Now, given that you once had the need to place three stents to your coronary arteries, puts you in a group of population with a risk of further developing coronary artery disease. I am not saying this to scare you. It is just to inform you that symptoms can happen one day again, or may never happen again. Whether these symptoms, if they appear, are from intrastent re-stenosis or a new-developed stenosis in a coronary artery, we cannot be sure until a coronary angiogram is carried out. You should consult your cardiologist, should your symptoms happen in the future. I hope I was helpful. Take care. Good day.