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The Bangalore based Trinity Hospital and Heart Foundation has now opted for use of biodegradable stents for patients who have smaller arteries. The interventional cardiologists have found that Indians, who are genetically known to have smaller arteries, usually suffer from coronary blocks. Now the biodegradable stents would provide a big relief as they are easiliy absorbable unlike the metal stents which are known to cause irritation in some patients.
Dr. J Koolen Holland and Dr. B G Muralidhara, chairman and chief cardiologist Trinity Hospital, performed the implantation of the biodegradable stent, to restore the proper blood flow in the arteries and claimed that the procedure was done for the first time in Asia. No details on the cost of the stent were disclosed.
Dr. J Koolen was in Bangalore for the Cardiology conference organised by the cardiology Society of India.
Stents are small mesh tubes used to treat blockages in the arteries. When the metal stents are left inside the body for a long time in nearly 30 per cent of the patient it causes irritation, inflammation and scar formation leading to re-narrowing of arteries. To overcome this problem medical scientists have developed the novel biodegradable stents also referred to as absorbable metal gets completely absorbed into the body, stated Dr. Muralidhara.
The key advantage of the biodegradable stent is that it provides mechanical support to the artery during the healing process for 60 days. It is completely absorbed into the body. The artery is restored to its natural condition. Patients do not have to live with the anxiety of a foreign body inside their heart. Since the stent is completely absorbed, future procedures if required, can be done safely. Since it is completely dissolved, it does not occupy any space inside the artery.
The three-year old Trinity Hospital and Heart Foundation has been able to cater to about 25,000 out patients and 7,000 inpatients. Trinity has performed 5,000 coronary Angiograms, 1000 Angioplasties and 600 Coronary Bypass Surgeries.
(Ref : CHRONICLE PHARMABIZ Dated December 16, 2004) |
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