Drug Eluting Stents

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In spite of the technician’s subliminal suggestion about dying lke John Denver, the angiogram was successful. To the doctors’ surprise, I did not have any significant blockage in the problematic artery.


Apparently, I had had a large clot that blocked the blood flow in the artery. This was different than the problems with a narrowing artery that I had before; apparently some vulnerable plaque had ruptured and blocked the artery, most likely at the site of the stent.


In the coming months, news about problems with drug eluting stents started to surface: for about three percent of the population, drug-eluting stents greatly increase the risk of a fatal heart attack. The drugs on the stent made it difficult for the cell tissue to repair the damage at all, and the cells are left much more vulnerable to clotting and a heart attack.


At the time I had had the drug-eluting stent to put in, the recommendation was to use aspirin and Plavix, a medication that prevents the coagulation of blood, for six months after the stent was put in, a recommendation I had closely followed. The heart attack occurred fourteen months after the drug-eluting stent was placed. The current recommendation is to continue on aspirin and Plavix indefinitely. I take them, religiously.