Mar. 07, 2005 - 20:29 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Rays Of Hope

When medical science, chemical science and mechanical science cooperate miraculous things can and do happen. An article in the Rocky Mountain News today by Marilynn Marchione of the Associated Press reports just such an event. In part:

Study backs new stents

Drug-coated devices help patients avoid heart bypass surgery

ORLANDO, Fla -- "A new generation of tiny, drug-coated metal scaffolds that prop open arteries has transformed heart care in just a few years and is allowing a growing number of people to avoid having bypass surgery."

"The devices, called drug-coated stents, slowly release medication that prevents vessels from reclogging after procedures to open them up."

"At an American College of Cardiology conference Sunday, doctors reported that both brands sold today are equally effective at keeping blood flowing smoothly, although one might be better for diabetics. Both were vastly better than the plain metal ones that were standard just a few years ago."

"Benefits of the new stents apparently last for years, and even big blockages in tiny vessels can be fixed this way. The devices work so well that when an older stent clogs, it's better to put a new drug-coated one inside it than to treat the problem with radiation as has been done in the past, one study found."

"Competitors also are being developed that could help cut the price of these devices. One novel type even dissolves in the body once its job is done."

"It's looking very good, "Dr. Gerald Fletcher, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, said of the evidence for drug-coated stents. "The benefit is going to be substantial in the long term."

"Clogged arteries can cause a heart attack. One solution is open-heart bypass surgery, in which blood vessels from elsewhere in the body are used to create detours around blockages."

"A less drastic treatment is angioplasty, in which a tiny balloon is snaked through blood vessels to blockages and inflated to flatten them. Nearly a million of these are done each year in the United States, and, in most cases, a stent is placed to keep the artery from squeezing shut again."

"But even these reclogged about a fouth of the time until drug-coated stents came along and cut the rate to around 5 percent."

"Finally, the first human tests of Biometrick's experimental dissolving stent were reported. Five people received the device last July, and "absorption seems to occur within the the first four weeks as planned," said Dr. Raimund Erbel of University Clinic in Essen, Germany.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

That is pretty much the bare bones of the article. I do remember a brother-in-law of mine undergoing bypass surgery. His ribcage was split open in front to enable them to work on his heart. His description of what he went through would turn a squinchy person pale. And the pain thereafter until he fully recovered was hard for him to describe. So from what I understand bypass surgery is extremely drastic.

Angioplasty gave folks some relief and time to strengthen up for bypass later, as the plugging usually reoccurred later. Then the stents were invented and began to be used, only to find that scar tissue formed in some cases. Then came the drug coated stents, a marvel in themselves which increase the chances of recovery dramatically. But it seems that the ideal is being approached, a stent that dissolves when its job is done. Ideally that is the way it should be, a stent needed only temporarily and one not inducing other complications.

Such wonderful news. I hope they put in a drug-coated stent in my son-in-law recently.

Medical, chemical and mechanical science working together seems to help people who ail, greatly and people who aid greatly need all the help they can get.

Things like this send off brilliant Rays Of Hope . . . . . . . . . .

Blog