Vascular stenting: how mesh implant saves lives

Today in Russia annually is about 30-35 thousand surgeries of the aortic-coronary bypass, open heart and almost 300 thousand stenting of the coronary arteries. When conducting the stenting and to whom it is contraindicated, told the TV channel “Russia-1” Yury Belenkov, Vice-President of the Russian society of cardiology, academician of RAS, Director of the clinic of hospital therapy number 1 medical University named after Sechenov.

Stenting is one of the greatest achievements of the twentieth century in the field of medicine, said Belenkov. It is allowed to conduct operations inside the vessel without cutting the body. This operation allows to return patient to a healthy state in just a few days.

a Stent is a medical implant with a length of about cm and a width of 6 millimeters with a wall-mesh. The mesh structure gives the opportunity to deliver it to the installation site in a compressed state, and to expand to the required size. The main reason for stent placement in the heart – atherosclerosis, a narrowing of the coronary vessels. In this case, stenting of the need to restore the original gleam of the vessels and normalization of cardiac blood flow. However, to carry out this operation it is possible not only on the vessels of the heart.

“Stents now we put in the different vascular pools, and in the coronary arteries, and carotid arteries, and renal arteries, and femoral arteries and the aorta,” – said Belenkov.

Stenting are shown not to all. It is contraindicated, particularly in diffuse lesions of the coronary arteries – this is diabetes. As explained by the academician, even in diabetes of the second type of the coronary vessels are so affected that “there is no substrate, which could be expanded and a stent”.

Also, the operation is contraindicated in patients with severe renal and respiratory failure. Not suitable for those who allergic to iodinesince stenting is used by a lot of iodine-containing contrast agent. It is impossible to do such an operation and those who have the blood clotting disorder.

“After stenting in the course of the year, at least, you need to take two drugs, the so-called antiplatelet agents – drugs that prevent the adhesion of platelets, that is, ensure the prevention of thrombosis of stents,” – said the academician. According to him, such drugs aggravate problems with coagulation.

In late may, it was reported that in Togliatti doctors have successfully performed surgery on a heart patient with severe COVID-19. 54-year-old man was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, he revealed a coronavirus infection and treatment began, and shortly before discharge the patient had a heart attack. The doctors decided to carry out stenting of the arteries and successfully coped with the operation.