Do Drug-Coated Stents Increase Your Risk of a Heart Attack?

When it comes to a personal injury settlement, Hudson Valley residents might want to contact a lawyer if they experienced a heart attack after the placement of a drug-coated stent. This is something that was investigated by a number of researchers to determine if having one of these stents in your body increased the risk of blood clotting. Blood clotting can go on to increase your heart attack risk. Learning more about the risk and the different drug-coated stents available is important in learning more about this issue.

Exploring the Research

There are two major studies to know about concerning this potential problem. The first study can be found in the American Journal of Medicine in the December 2006 issue. Ultimately, this study concluded that people who had a drug-coated stent in their body are as much as five times more likely to experience a heart attack. This is because of a higher chance of blood clots with this type of stent. Due to the increased clotting risk, researchers recommend that any patient having this type of stent placed be on a blood thinning medication for a specified amount of time after the procedure.

The Drug Coated Stents study was published in 2007. This study came to similar conclusions as the study above and that is that people who have this type of stent in their body have a heart attack risk of up to five times higher compared to those without this type of stent. It is thought that the risk of clotting is associated with a gap occurring around the stent, giving clots a place to form.

What is a Drug-Coated Stent?

This type of stent works like any stent in that it helps to keep blood vessels that are diseased or damaged open to ensure adequate blood flow. The drug-coated type has drugs on it that slowly release to help prevent the proliferation of cells.

What is a Heart Attack?

A heart attack occurs when the heart becomes damaged. This damage is associated with not getting enough blood to the heart. A clot is a common reason for the reduction in blood flow. Heart attacks range greatly in terms of the lasting effects. Some people recover fully and some go on to experience different complications that are potentially life-threatening, such as heart failure and abnormal heart rhythms.

As you can see, there is a lot to know about stents and this issue. The research shows that there could be an increased risk of heart attack when having a drug-coated stent in your body. If you want more information about the lawsuit components of this, you can usually reach out to an attorney to learn about the options for a personal injury settlement in Hudson Valley.