Is a Stent Your Best Option?

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What to Do If You've Chosen Not to Get a Stent

Some patients and doctors believe medicine and lifestyle changes couldn’t possibly work as well as high-tech treatments. I’ve even known of patients who have accused their doctors of “not doing anything for me” when they don’t get a stent for a moderate blockage.

These patients don’t know that they may be more safely and appropriately treated with medicine and risk modification, such as exercise, eating a healthful diet, losing weight, not smoking, and controlling diabetes and high blood pressure. They want what they perceive as a quick fix, but new data suggests that may not be the way to go.

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine (April 2007) showed that:

• For many, implanting a stent is no better in the long term than optimal medicine and aggressive lifestyle changes.
• Many patients treated with stents could have been managed with medicines instead, or at least that approach should have been considered.
• At the end of five years, stents provided no added benefit in preventing heart attacks or death.
• Stents provided more initial improvement in blood flow and pain relief, but this benefit disappeared over time.

In the end, the bottom line is this: Discuss your individual case with your doctor, or more than one doctor, who will help you decide the best course of action.