Post-stenting Q&A for patients with coronary artery disease

  Intracoronary stenting is a milestone in coronary interventions, which have made significant advances over the past 20 years. In recent years, the prevalence of coronary artery disease has been increasing year by year, and the number of patients with coronary artery disease receiving this treatment has also increased rapidly, reaching as many as 330,000 in 2011. Many patients have questions after stent placement, and the answers to the most frequently asked questions are as follows.  1. Will the heart stent fall off? Once a stent is successfully placed in a coronary vessel, it will not fall off again and can participate in activities after surgery.  2.How long will the heart stent stay in the body? After the stent is inserted, it will stay in the body. About 4 weeks after the stent is inserted, the surface of the stent will be completely covered by the endothelium of the blood vessel and fused into a part of the vessel wall, playing the role of supporting the blood vessel, preventing stenosis and stabilizing the plaque.  3.Will stents cause rejection in the body? There is no obvious rejection reaction after stent placement in human body.  4.Why do I still have chest pain after stenting? If angina pectoris is clearly present before the surgery and the coronary stenosis is confirmed by imaging, the angina pectoris is obviously relieved or disappears after stent placement. However, there are some patients whose preoperative chest pain is not caused by angina pectoris, i.e. not due to myocardial ischemia, so even if stenting is given, the chest pain cannot be relieved.  5.Can I do MRI, CT and other examinations after stent placement? MRI is usually avoided within 8 weeks after the placement of stainless steel stents. There is no restriction on CT examination.  6.Can I pass airport security after stent placement? Airport security has no effect on the stent and will not cause the metal detector to issue an alarm.  7.Do I need to take aspirin and clopidogrel for a long time after stent placement? Aspirin should be taken for a long time and clopidogrel should be used for at least 1 year in principle (75mg/day).  8.Is coronary heart disease completely cured after stenting? Stenting is only a treatment for coronary artery disease, targeting only the diseased local vessels. It plays an important role in relieving stenosis, restoring myocardial blood supply, relieving angina, improving quality of life and saving the lives of patients with acute myocardial infarction. The benefits of stenting are based on medication and lifestyle changes. Without these two foundations, postoperative patients will still be in critical condition, so in addition to continuing to take medication as prescribed, postoperative patients should start to develop and maintain a good lifestyle. In addition, coronary angiography should usually be repeated 6-8 months after stenting in order to understand the status of stent placement and any new lesions.  9.Why do I have to take a lot of medications after stenting? Many patients who have undergone stenting think that stenting is a “cure” and that the disease is over once and for all. Therefore, many patients with coronary artery disease stop taking medication prematurely or use medication irregularly after surgery for one reason or another, which eventually leads to recurrence or aggravation of the disease. Therefore, strict and standardized drug therapy is still very important, including the control of various risk factors, active antiplatelet, statin lipid regulation, and the use of RAAS inhibitors and β-blockers. Only strict and standardized drug therapy can effectively prevent the occurrence of in-stent restenosis (reoccurrence or worsening of myocardial ischemia) or/and thrombosis (leading to myocardial infarction or even death) in coronary arteries.