Coronary artery disease is known to be, along with other cardiovascular diseases, the most common cause of death.
Prevention with a healthy lifestyle and/or medication has a very important role in reducing its frequency and effects.
“However, when it manifests itself clinically, e.g. with stable angina, with unstable angina or with an acute myocardial infarction, the invasive investigation of the coronary artery disease with coronary angiography is very often required and then its treatment with percutaneous angioplasty with stent placement or with aortocoronary bypass (by-pass)” explains Mr. Dimitris Alexopoulos Cardiologist, Scientific Associate of Metropolitan General and continues:
“The coronary angiography is performed under local anesthesia, by hand, it usually takes 5-15 minutes and the patient leaves the hospital after 4 hours. In most cases, if there are significant strictures and medication alone is not sufficient, the interventional treatment of the disease follows with angioplasty with stent (balloon) placement by the interventional cardiologist and, more rarely, by-pass by the cardiac surgeon. Angioplasty is most often performed in the same session as coronary angiography, as we say ad hoc, with local anesthesia, lasts approximately 15-60 minutes depending on its complexity, with immediate mobilization of the patient and his discharge from the hospital the next day. If of course it is done in the context of acute coronary syndrome, e.g. acute myocardial infarction, the duration of the patient’s hospitalization is determined by this, usually another 3-5 days” he adds.
The results of angioplasty have improved significantly in recent years with the use of sophisticated stents that release a special drug to avoid recurrence, antithrombotic drugs to avoid thrombosis in the acute phase and chronically as well as intravascular imaging techniques with which we optimize the placement of stents .
In this way, angioplasty achieves excellent results in patients with coronary artery disease. In particular, in relation to pharmaceutical treatment alone, angioplasty when applied to acute coronary syndromes offers more years of life, while in chronic patients, less discomfort and a better quality of life.
“All patients who develop coronary heart disease need to take lifelong medications such as aspirin and statins. In addition, and for a short period of time, usually 6-12 months, the patient after angioplasty must take a second antiplatelet drug in addition to aspirin to avoid stent thrombosis, which thus happens very rarely, in 0, 5% of cases”, concludes Mr. Alexopoulos.
Source :Skai
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