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A Revolution In Heart Care
Our body's immune system reacts to the process of pressing a stent into the blood vessel as an injury, creating scar tissue, especially in the days immediately after the procedure. The scar tissue results in a re-narrowing of the artery, which can again block the flow of blood to the heart.
Drug-coated stents are polymer coated with microgram amounts of a medication that helps improve the way the body heals after the stent is put in place. The drug on the stent is released over several days and interrupts the normal proliferation of scar tissue cells. It does not kill cells and instead allows the stent to be covered with the layer of smooth cells that normally line blood vessels.
There are four components to a coated stent: a stent, a drug that successfully inhibits restenosis, a polymer coating that serves as the agent by which the drug adheres to the stent, and a stent delivery system to position it at the lesion site in the coronary vessel.
The development of these stents has particular importance for women who experience a higher rate of restenosis because of their smaller vessels.
The drug-coated stents may also help those patients with multiple blockages or long narrowing who had to have surgery in the past. In addition, diabetics may be helped by drug-coated stents because they can be candidates for angioplasty rather than surgery, for which they are at higher risk.
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