Can you have too many heart stents in place?

December 9, 2010 2:51 AM

A recent heart stress test shows according to my GP that I'm probably going to have to go to the hospital and have another heart stent put in. I see my cardiologist this Friday for more details. I presently have 7 stents in place. I'm staring to wonder if there is a upper number of stents that a person can have on board.
posted by malhaley to Health & Fitness (4 answers total)

Might be worth talking to your GP and cardiologist, based on the stenting trials.
posted by gramcracker at 5:35 AM on December 9, 2010

It's a slow shift in emergency so I just asked the cardiologist sitting next to me and the answer in general is that there's no real upper limit. The drawbacks are that if a stent stenoses you can't re-stent it and you can't graft a vein onto a stented artery so if someone's requiring a ridiculously high amount bypass surgery is usually preferred.
posted by Silentgoldfish at 6:20 AM on December 9, 2010

The answer is "As many as your cardiologists think are appropriate."

Sticking more than one stent in the same vessel is difficult, but as far as I know you can keep stenting new vessels pretty much until you run out of them.
posted by valkyryn at 6:27 AM on December 9, 2010

For anecdotal information, my step-dad's father has 9 stents in place right now. There's been no talk about this approaching any limit. And he's in his late 80s.
posted by Lulu's Pink Converse at 9:35 AM on December 9, 2010