Leeanne: I am Leeanne from Boise. What are the negative side-effects of heart stents?
Jason Rogers: That's a great question, Leeanne, as there are over 500,000 stent procedures in the United States each year. On my left is a model of the heart. The heart is a muscle which pumps blood. On the surface, are small tubes called coronary arteries. These carry blood to the heart muscle and keep it alive. Some patients can develop blockages in these arteries which can result in chest pain or in severe cases heart damage which is called a Heart Attack.
Now stent shown in my hand here can be placed using a minimally invasive procedure to relieve these blockages. So the benefits of stents would include relief of chest pain, and in some cases can be life-saving.
The negative aspects of this would include a small risk with the procedure such as bleeding. In addition, patients are required to take mild blood thinners for about a year after the stent is placed.
So in summary, there are some risks to stent procedure, but in general, the good out-way is the bad.
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