Heart disease tops the list of the leading killers of both men and women, which is why treatment options should be carefully considered.
Heart disease tops the list of the leading killers of both men and women, which is why treatment options should be carefully considered. One particular treatment, the implanted stent, a widely utilized option, has recently come under question as research shows there may be better ways of solving problems of the heart.A stent is a tiny metal cage-like device implanted with a balloon catheter into an artery for the purpose of dilation and improved blood flow. Some are coated with a special medicinal polymer to offer assistance in the healing process.The implantation procedure is somewhat invasive, as it requires a patient to undergo angioplasty (a catheter inserted in the leg that travels to the affected vein). Once a stent has been implanted, there are numerous potential problems that can arise, the most significant being that the artery often attempts to heal around the stent, resulting in new blockage.While no respectable cardiologist refutes the need to use a stent in an emergency situation, such as an occurring heart attack, elective stent implantation is now being reconsidered in favor of more holistic and less invasive treatments.Dr. Kristine Soly is one of just a few Holistic Cardiologists in the United States, with an office in Yarmouthport. While Soly appreciates the use of implanted stents in emergency situations, she supports what is becoming a growing trend: medical management of heart disease. "There are just so many options available," said Soly during a recent phone interview.It is learning about these options that Soly feels is a patient's greatest challenge. Far too often, in a world where strictly managed health care is becoming the norm, an average doctor visit lasts less than 10 minutes, not nearly enough time to talk about symptoms, let alone treatment."If nobody gives [patients] options, they don't know about them," said Soly. "How is anybody going to know?"Soly believes that the practice of using elective stents is becoming a standard of care. "Even though it's not necessarily right," she said. "Just because it's used everywhere doesn't mean you're doing the right thing using it."In her practice Soly combines medical management with various holistic practices in order to help her patients feel more empowered in their own recovery. Along with prescribing drugs such as beta-blockers, nitrates and cholesterol controllers, Soly also provides patients information on breathing regulation and relaxation techniques to bring them into what is referred to as an alpha state where the heart rates slows and stress is reduced. "But these things take time," said Soly. "Americans like the quick fix and a stent is a quick fix."Nonetheless, medical practitioners are paying more attention to the more holistic approach. Dr. Robert Scarpato, a vascular surgeon with Cape Cod Healthcare, notes that medical management is fast becoming a first choice when treating heart illness. "Only when you've done the best you can with medicines and when there is a threat to tissue, then we've got to do something invasive," he said.Where stents are concerned, however, Scarpato notes that the technology involved in their development is constantly evolving, expanding a patient's options. On the horizon is a dissolvable stent, as well as permanent stents made from cobalt, a denser, lighter material that is also non-ferrous to allow a patient to have MRIs in the future. Another possibility regarding drug-coated polymer stents is a dissolvable medicinal polymer that would leave a bare-metal stent in place once the drugs were released. "The technology is moving so rapidly," said Scarpato, "We're learning as we move along."Because there are such a vast number of treatment options to consider following a heart disease diagnosis, both Scarpato and Soly encourage patients to make time to talk extensively with their cardiologists. Said Scarpato, "Gather as much information as you can before you have something done."