Heart stents could lead to stroke

Eddie Farah

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According to a recent study the likelihood of implanting stents to open clogged arteries is more likely to cause strokes that the old-fashioned method of simply cleaning the arteries out surgically.

These findings have been published in the New England journal of Medicine. A team led by Jean-Louise Mas of Sainte-Anne Hospital in Paris, France, no longer is enrolling volunteers in a study, which began in 2000, due to the risks of the ">stent technique.

These efforts were to determine the best treatment for clearing clogged arteries, which is the most common cause for strokes suffered by nearly 700,000 Americans each year.

The French study revealed a 9.6 percent of 247 stent recipients had died or suffered strokes versus 3.9 percent of 257 recipients who elected surgery. Additionally 71 percent of strokes in those where stints were implanted occurred on the day of the procedure. Those electing surgery, only 33 percent of the strokes occurred on the first day.

The team determined it to be unethical to continue implantation of stents in patients whose arteries were at least 60 percent blocked and already had symptoms f a stroke.

The benefits of using stents are risk of nerve damage is only one percent versus eight percent for surgery patients. Additionally surgery patients spend long time in the hospital.