When the artery feeding blood to the heart is blocked a heart attack occurs. The blockage not only stops the flow of blood to the heart muscle, it also stops the hearts oxygen.

In most cases when a blockage is found a metal stent is placed in the artery.

Until recently researchers were unable to tell if the patients were bleeding into the heart after the stent surgery.

In the new study, researchers used (magnetic resonance imaging) to examine bleeding inside the hearts of 15 individuals who had recently suffered a heart attack. (They could spot areas of bleeding due to the magnetic effects of iron, which is present in the blood.)

Thanks to the study our health care providers will have more insight as to the damage caused by heart attacks, and the best treatments for individual patients.

Lead study author Declan O’Regan, of Imperial College’s MRC Clinical Sciences Center.

Post from: Blisstree

MRI Gives New Hope

1. You’d avoid having a foreign body inside your heart
2. The absorbable stent is more flexible and conforms to the shape of the coronary artery
3. A lower risk of late-stent thrombosis
4. Less potential scarring
5. Avoid the hassles a metal stent causes with CT and MRI scans

I’ve previously written about the Abbott XIENCE V Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System and today’s news is, I believe, about this stent (why didn’t BBC News name exactly what stent they’re talking about?!) that is made of a polymer which dissolves into lactic acid over two to three years. Like other stents, it holds the artery open and also releases everolimus which works to prevent re-narrowing. In a study of 30 patients who received the BVS stent in Europe and New Zealand, none experienced adverse reactions.

According to Business Week, the Xience V stent is available in Europe and will be marketed in the U.S. in 2008.

Post from: Blisstree

Bioabsorbable Heart Stents the Wave of the Future