Tag: stretch pain after a stent

Post-stent chest pain, revisited

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 18 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

A clinical review paper published in the European Heart Journal, under the intriguing section called “Controversies in Cardiovascular Medicine”, revealed a controversy that I’ve written about (and experienced in real life):  post-stent chest pain.1

This clinical review started with a polite acknowledgement that “procedural success is routinely achieved”  in heart patients when blocked coronary arteries are treated with an implanted stent. But immediately following the niceties about the success of the procedure, review authors threw in this zinger:

“Persistence or recurrence of angina after a stent is well-recognized and may affect 20–40 per cent of patients during short to medium-term follow-up.” 

Whaaaaat?!    That’s like the old hospital joke: “The operation was successful – but the patient died!”  And how can a stent procedure be dubbed a success if up to 40 per cent of patients suffer persistent or recurring chest pain afterwards? Continue reading “Post-stent chest pain, revisited” →

Coronary stents: interventions that come with a cost

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 15 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥    @HeartSisters

Remember last month when I covered the topic of “stretch pain” in heart patients who have had a coronary stent implanted?

To recap, temporary post-stent stretch pain in the chest is considered to be due to the dilation (stretching) of an artery while a metal stent is being implanted inside that artery, and it typically occurs in about 40 per cent of stent patients.1   A number of you wrote in with some variation of this question: “Is it still stretch pain if it’s happening months afterwards?”

And now a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology  suggests that something entirely different might be going on.2          Continue reading “Coronary stents: interventions that come with a cost” →

Post-stent chest pain

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 306 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥   @HeartSisters 

A friend’s daughter (who happens to be a cardiac nurse) phoned to check on me a few days after I was discharged from the hospital following my heart attack. I felt so relieved to hear Kate’s voice because  something was really starting to worry me:  I was still having chest pain.

Hadn’t the blocked coronary artery that had caused my “widow maker” heart attack just recently been magically unblocked? Wasn’t that newly revascularized artery now propped wide open with a shiny metal stent? Shouldn’t I be feeling better?

And that’s when I heard the words “stretch pain”  for the first time.    .       .  Continue reading “Post-stent chest pain” →