what is the lifetime of the stent, once it is blasted inside vessels, does it have any time to be replced?

Answer 1

http://www.fda.gov/hearthealth/treatments/medicaldevices/stent.html

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/cardio/messages/35505.html

Forever, but there is still a small chance of restenosis (a new blockage forming). It is very important for you to take an active role in living a heart healthy lifestyle, as doing so will lessen your chance of restenosis. The stent (coronary) will never be removed.

Answer 2

Ideally the stents would be deployed to prop open the vessel after balloon angioplasty and then would disappear. The stents do eventually become epithelialized (skin grows over it) and becomes integral to the inside of the artery. When they are deployed they are usually slightly larger than the diameter of the inside of the artery. This is a good thing because you want the inside of your artery to be as smooth as possible after skin grows over it. There are some experimental stents made of magnesium that would actually dissolve after being deployed - time will tell if these are useful in the long run.

As others have pointed out, it is not the stent that is keeping your artery from clogging again, it is your lifestyle and treatment choices. If despite changing your habits and controlling your cholesterol (LDL less than 70) you are still re-stenosing your arteries, then you should visit a specialist in cholesterol - aka lipidologist. He/She can do specialized tests to measure sub-particles of cholesterol profile which are the real bad guys to creating addition arterial plaquing.

In sum there is no shelf life for a stent. In fact stents only perform a function for the first few months of their deployment. On the other hand they don't contribute to re-stenosis either. Your choices in lifestyle (stop smoking, control diabetes, loose weight) and aggressiveness of blood pressure and lipid control treatment will predict longer periods free of progressive heart disease. I hope this helps.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Everyone's body is different. If you don't change what caused the blockage in the first place then the stent could very easily become blocked again. Most of the patients that I deal with have problems within 3-4 years if they have not changed their diet or lifestyle. The patients that have tried to alter their lifestyle have went 10 years and more without problems.

Answer 4

I think you should ask a Dr. this question......but from what I've heard it doesn't usually need replaced ~but I really don't know.

Answer 5

They are non degradable and need not be replaced.