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Heart & Cardiovascular Disease
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Posted 9/15/2007 9:43 AM (GMT -8)
Hi, my brother is 35 years old and very overweight.  He had a stress test done and they said they found evidence of blockage and they are going to do a cardiac catheterization.  If they find blockage, at that time they are going to put in a stint.  Can you tell me how serious all of this is?  If he starts living a healthy lifestyle and loses weight, what are the chances of him living a long life?  I am all the way across the country, so it is hard for me to get the information from his doctors.  This scares me a lot, but I don't know what to think of all of it.  Will he be ok?  Does this mean he is going to have heart problems?  Is this life threatening?  Is the procedure itself risky?  I want my brother to live to an old age, will he?

Thanks so much for any information! :-)

Posted 9/15/2007 11:23 AM (GMT -8)
Take a breath!  It will be okay.  If they find a blockage, they can do angioplasty, and insert a stent.  I stent will keep the blocked area open.  You should feel lucky that they are finding a possible blockage BEFORE he had a heart attack.  My 52 year old husband has had 2 heart attacks, and he has 6 stents.  He works, and is just like he was before the heart attacks (he had no lasting heart damage).  The stent will actually make him feel better.  He will probably be on a statin (for cholesterol, aspirin, a blood thinner - probably Plavix, and a beta blocker).  If he smokes, he will have to quit (well at least that is what the cardio's will want).  He should have a low fat diet, and exercise according to his doctors recommendations).  He will be fine.  You may want to do some research on medicated and non-medicated stents - there has been a great deal of controversary about medicated stents recently.  Good luck - and try not to worry about him.
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