The Echocardigram is a test that looks at many aspects of how well your heart is doing. It can tell us how strong its pumping, how well the valves are working, and can even tell what area of your heart may have a blockage. Your doctor is most likely looking to see if the blockage in your coronary artery/arteries is effecting how well your heart can pump. If you had a cath and it showed a 80-90% block and your echocardigram shows that the area of the heart isn't pumping as well as it should then a stent might give you some benefit. As far as Plavix: Plavix is a drug that blocks how well your platlets (a type of blood cell that helps you make clots) function. It does NOT reduce blockages in your arteries. Diet, exercise, and other medications (most notably statins) will do this for you. Plavix is needed if you have a certain type of blockage or symptoms that indicate that your blockage may be growing or "unstable" (which means that the normal plaque has broken off and platlets are sticking to it). If you have a stent placed you will need to be on plavix for a period of time. This depends on what kind of stent is placed, how wide the stent is, and where it is placed. Bob Levy Resident M.D.