Angioplasty and Stenting (complicants and etc)?

Question

My husband just had this done last Monday, a week ago tomorrow and I was wondering if anyone (men) has had this and if so how it did for them and if there is any that have had complications from it

Answer 1

I know a gentleman who had it done this past spring; three and a half months post procedure, he ran a half marathon. He had been a half marathoner before, so this was not something new, but it was a great morale booster for him.

He needed a good six to eight weeks to fully feel like himself again; he found he was quite tired and needed more rest than usual at first.

Other than the initial fatigue, he's done well. He's back to all his usual activities and his most recent stress test was excellent.

One thing he did find was that he was very nervous at first about every little twinge and pinch in his chest, wondering if it was another angina attack or even a heart attack. He was able to talk to his exercise expert (all people having stents done up here get an exercise expert assigned to them, as well as a cardiologist) and his doctor and both were able to help him learn to tell the difference between the normal twinges and what needed to be treated.

Answer 2

Angioplasty is the re-opening of a closed up artery using a special carbon dioxide filled balloon that is fed into the heart's arteries and inflated at the narrowed point. To keep the re-opened artery patent a special metal spring-like stent is placed at the site. The stent is either treated with a drug that thins the blood or is an untreated one and small dose aspirin has to be taken for life to prevent a narrowing of the arteries again.

It is a very common operation and has replace open chest surgery for many patients. There are complications like infection, bleeding, or the dislodging of a piece of the blockage material (called an artheroma), this may cause a stroke. But these are very rare complications in the long run the procedure is very safe and has saved many people much suffering.