Improvents with stents help caridovascular patients heal faster

By Ashton Daigle

 The continuing improvement of cardiovascular technology is ultimately helping doctors to better handle intricate procedures and allowing patients to heal faster.

Improvements in the type of stents, which are small metal "scaffolds" design to keep arteries open used in coronary angioplasty procedures, have greatly increased patient healing time, Dr. Nephtali Kogan, MD, selected as a Chicago Top Doctor by TopTierMD as a top rated cardiovascular specialist in Chicago, said.

Coronary angioplasty procedures usually entail the application of lanacaine to the groin area, close to the femoral artery, which is one of the largest arteries in the body. A needle is then fed into the femoral artery.

“From that point, wires, balloons, stents and all of the things necessary to perform the procedure are passed through,” Dr. Kogan said.

Prior to the use of stents, Dr. Kogan said, balloons were used in these coronary angioplasty procedures. With balloons, the healing process was slower. The chances of blockages returning were also higher, Dr. Kogan said.

The creation and the usage of stents, in addition to reducing recovery time, has reduced the chances of blockages returning by approximately 25 percent, Dr. Kogan said. Returning blockages are attributed to scar tissue formation within the stent.

Dr. Kogan said that, over the course of the past seven or eight years, newer metal stents coated with medication to prevent scar tissue formation have become widely available.

“There’s actually a drug coating that just sits on the metal of the stent, that prevents the regrowth of scar tissue,” Dr. Kogan said.

The use of medicated stents has reduced the chances of returning blockages by an additional five to 10 percent, Dr. Kogan said.

“As the years go on we’ll probably continue to see newer generations of stents and improved medications,” Dr. Kogan said. “I think the next really big thing is going to be the biodegradable stent. This will be a stent that actually biodegrades over time, so that when it is finally completely dissolved, there will nothing left but nice healthy tissue. We’re still a little ways off from that, but it’s coming.”

Dr. Kogan said another major improvement over recent years is the creation of new devices and tools which make coronary angioplasty procedures easier to perform.

“They’ve created wires that are more pliable, which has made it easier to navigate the more curvier blood vessels and arteries,” Dr. Kogan said. “Doctors have also been employing the use of lasers. This technology allows the specialist to literally evaporate away cholesterol buildup inside the artery. All of this allows us to deploy stents where we couldn’t before, even only a few years ago. As time goes on, I’m sure the technologies will only become more effective.”

Dr. Nephtali Kogan, MD, was selected by TopTierMD as a Chicago Top Doctor and is considered Best in cardiovascular disease in Chicago. He specializes in coronary artery disease evaluation and catheter-based treatment, peripheral vascular disease evaluation and catheter-based treatment, and coronary stenting and angioplasty.