English for Medical Students

The page last updated on 03/22/2009 at 08:58.

Unit 1: The Cardiovascular System

Listening Activity: Risk associated with Stent vs. Bypass (from MayoClinic.com)

Listen to the recording describing the stents and bypass surgery; then fill in the blanks by typing your answers into the boxes. Once you finished, go back and move your mouse of the "check your answer" and compare your answer with the ones provided. Then relisten to the text for extra practice.

 Listen to the recoding of this text, and then try to fill in the gaps (type your answers into the boxes) with the words in the table below. Listen several times if necessary.
Then check your answers.

After you review your answers, work with a partner (or a dictionary) and make sure you understand the vocabulary introduced in this topic.

1. aspirin
2. break loose
3. bruise
4. clogged
5. clots
6. discontinued		 7. dislodged
8. dye
9. inserted
10. invasive
11. pacemaker
12. reduce		 13. restenosis
14. rhythm
15. risk
16. ruptured
17. site
18. stint		 19. stroke
20. take
21. thinners
22. threaded
23. transfusion

 

Risks associated with coronary angioplasty and stents

Coronary angioplasty and stents
By Mayo Clinic staff

Although angioplasty is a less way to open arteries, the procedure still carries some risks.

The most common angioplasty risks include:

Re-narrowing of your artery (). A major drawback of coronary angioplasty is the chance that your artery will re-narrow (restenosis) within months of the procedure. With angioplasty alone — without placement — restenosis happens in as many as 30 to 40 percent of cases. Stents were developed to restenosis. The original bare-metal stents reduce the chance of restenosis to less than 20 percent, and the use of drug-eluting stents has reduced the risk to less than 10 percent.

Blood clots. Blood can form within stents even weeks or months after angioplasty. These clots may cause a heart attack. It's important to take , clopidogrel (Plavix) and other medications exactly as prescribed to decrease the chance of clots forming in your stent. Talk to your doctor about how long you'll need to these medications and whether or not they can be if you need additional surgery.

Bleeding. You may have bleeding at the in your leg or arm where catheters were . Usually this simply results in a , but sometimes serious bleeding occurs and may require blood or surgical procedures.

Other rare risks of angioplasty include:

Heart attack. You may have a heart attack during the procedure, though large heart attacks are rare.

Coronary artery damage. Your coronary artery may be torn or (dissected) during the procedure. These complications may require emergency bypass surgery.

Kidney problems. The used during angioplasty and stent placement can cause kidney damage, especially in people who already have decreased kidney function. If you are at increased , your doctor may give you a medication to try to protect your kidneys.

Stroke. During angioplasty, blood clots that may form on the catheters can , and travel to your brain. Blood are given during the procedure to reduce this risk. A can also occur if plaques in your heart are when the catheters are being through the aorta.

Abnormal heart rhythms. You heart may get irritated during the procedure and beat too quickly or too slowly. These heart problems are usually short-lived, but sometimes medications or a temporary is needed.