Implantable Medical Devices For The Heart
If you have a heart problem, implantable medical devices, such as a pump, can be used to help your heart function properly.
Several types of devices, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, exist to keep your heart beating. These devices can help improve the quality of your life, reduce your risk for a heart attack and help treat chest pain.
A heart pump called a ventricular assist device helps hearts weakened by heart failure to pump an adequate amount of blood, while heart valves that dont work properly can be replaced with artificial ones.
Blood vessels that are blocked or narrowed by coronary heart disease can be opened with cardiac angioplasty devices. Stents also can be used to reduce the risk of future blockage.
Thin tubes called cardiac ablation catheters can be threaded into the heart to treat abnormal heartbeats.
Recently Answered
- Q What is a bioabsorbable stent?
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Stents are tiny, metal mesh tubes that are implanted in arteries to prevent them from collapsing after a blockage has been removed. These stents currently are manufactured in two varieties: bare metal stents (BMS) and drug-eluting stents (DES). Metal... Full Answer
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- Q Why do I need an implantable cardioverter defibrillator?
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An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) insertion is the implantation of an electronic device (just below the collarbone) used to help regulate electrical problems with the heart. An ICD may be inserted in survivors of sudden cardiac... Full Answer
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- Q How are stents directed through the blood vessels?
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Interventional radiologists use long wires and catheters, as well as advanced medical imaging, to guide stents into position from the arm or the leg to various parts of the body, including the arteries that feed the brain, legs, and kidneys. This... Full Answer
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- Q How do stents stay in place?
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An interventional radiologist makes a very small incision in the skin, about the size of a pencil tip. The stent, which is placed on the end of a catheter, is threaded under X-ray guidance to the area of treatment. The stent is then expanded so... Full Answer
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- Q Do stents serve special functions?
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A stent may be coated with drugs (drug-eluting stent) to have a pharmacological effect on clogged blood vessels or other pathways that have been narrowed or blocked by tumors or obstructions. Stents can also administer agents that prevent scar... Full Answer
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- Q What is a drug-eluting stent?
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If your arteries are narrowed or have blockages, you may undergo angioplasty and stenting - a procedure during which an interventional cardiologist threads a thin tube called a catheter through the artery to the site of the blockage and a balloon is... Full Answer
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- Q How is a stent placement performed?
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A stent is a small metal coil or tube that is placed in a narrowed artery to hold it open. To place the stent, your healthcare provider first performs angioplasty or atherectomy to compress or cut away plaque buildup in the artery. Sometimes the stent... Full Answer
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- Q How long does a stent procedure take?
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If your physician has identified a blockage in one or more of your arteries, he or she may determine that you could benefit from angioplasty and stenting. Angioplasty is a procedure performed by interventional cardiologists to reopen a blocked artery.... Full Answer
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- Q How soon after getting a stent can I stop taking my heart medications?
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If you recently had a stent placed in a blocked artery or are about to, you may wonder for how long you will need to take your medication. The answer is firm: NEVER stop taking your medication until instructed to do so by the physician who prescribed... Full Answer
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- Q Can a stent be removed once it is implanted?
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When a stent is implanted in an artery, the cells of the artery wall eventually grow over the stent. The stent becomes permanently embedded in the artery wall. Because of this, a stent cannot be removed once it has been placed in an artery. Doing so... Full Answer
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