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Revascularization As An Option For High-Risk Cardiac Patients

Procedures, such as cardiac bypass surgery can hugely benefit heart disease patients by opening blocked arteries and improving blood flow through the heart. Unfortunately, some patients are considered too “high risk” for such measures, and there are few alternatives to mitigate their symptoms. This is where cardiac revascularization comes into play. Risk of having a heart attack increases when coronary artery disease has narrowed one of your arteries by 70 percent.

Selecting the best revascularization procedure is essential. Doctors recommend percutaenous coronary intervention, or PCI (a minimally invasive procedure to open arteries by threading a catheter through the leg and into the heart to open blockage with a balloon-like device or by deploying a stent in the artery) if there is one or two lesions threatening to cause a heart attack, whereas coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is advised in case severe atherosclerosis was present throughout the left anterior descending (LAD) artery and other arteries in your ticker. According to cardiologists, CABG and PCI don’t have the same long-term impact. When it comes to CABG, it not only keeps the culprit lesion from causing a heart attack, but also protects against future events caused by lesions that may form in the same artery. On the other hand, stents cannot protect against future lesions, which means they cannot protect against future heart attacks.

Significance of Revascularization:

1.      Treatment of high-risk patients is now possible in view to several medical advances and treatments, which include medical therapies, surgery, and percutaneous coronary revascularization. Heart transplantation is recommended for patients with the most severe conditions, or patients may be put on left-ventricular assist devices.
2.      Atherosclerosis is the main reason behind coronary artery disease, when fatty plaques accumulate inside your artery walls, which can narrow down a vessel to the extent that blood can no longer pass through it. Plaques can also rupture, spilling their contents into the artery and causing formation of a blood clot that can disrupt blood flow, which eventually results in a heart attack. The area of heart muscle that’s nourished by the affected artery is starved of oxygen and can die when heart attack takes place. Revascularization- with either CABG or PCI- restores adequate flow of freshly oxygenated blood to these areas.

Which option is better- CABG or PCI?

How you’ll benefit from revascularization completely depends on how extensive your disease is. CABG can increase the lifespan of someone who has significant disease throughout their coronary arteries. The higher the extent of your disease, the more significantly you can benefit from CABG. Talking about PCI, it focuses on treating severe lesions that limit blood flow, which makes it the most appropriate when a single blockage is causing a heart attack. But PCI only addresses a single lesion in comparison to CABG that addresses most heart-attack causing lesions occurring in the upper one-third of the artery.

There are times when an individual’s overall condition, such as when they have another existing condition like severe lung disease, liver disease, extreme age, etc. - makes PCI a safer choice too, since in these cases risk associated with surgery is higher than the risk of heart attack. It’s always advisable to look beyond the immediate effect of treatment and look forward to its long-term impact.
You must know that not all CABGs are created equal, undergo treatment always in consultation with your doctor.

For CPR training, sign up for this lifesaving course at the AHA certified CPR Tampa in Palm Harbor, call on 727-240-9404.
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