Coronary Artery Disease

Trouble with Your Heart
Your doctor has probably told you that you have coronary artery disease. This means that blood vessels that feed your heart are narrowed or blocked. Coronary artery disease can cause angina (pressure, tightness, or pain in your chest, arm, neck, or jaw). Coronary artery disease can also lead to a heart attack or even death. To help treat this heart problem, your doctor may want you to consider a coronary stent implant.

What is a Stent?
A Stent is a small metal coil or mesh tube that is placed in a narrow artery through a catheter (a long, thin tube) to help improve blood flow to your heart. The stent permanently holds the passageway open and helps reduce the rate of restenosis, renarrowing of the artery. After the stent placement, you may need to say in the hospital for one to five days and temporarily Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a disease affecting the arteries that surround the heart and supply blood to the heart muscle. The most common cause of CAD is arteriosclerosis, commonly called "hardening of the arteries."

The coronary arteries can become narrowed when plaque (a combination of cholesterol and other fats, calcium and certain other elements carried in the blood) builds up on the inside of the artery walls. When plaque builds up and narrows the arteries, less blood, and therefore less oxygen and other nutrients, reaches the heart muscle. This can lead to chest pain (angina pectoris) or to a heart attack (myocardial infarction).