Usually, patients stay overnight and return home the day after the procedure. Some may even go home the same day. The amount of time that is spent in the hospital may depend on if there were any difficulties during the procedure and how well the catheter insertion site is healing.
After having a planned (non-emergency) coronary angioplasty, you'll usually be able to leave hospital the same day or following day. Arrange for someone to take you home. Before you leave hospital, you should be given advice on: any medication you need to take.
What should you expect? The procedure may take place right after the arteriogram, which is used to find the blockage, or it may occur the next day. You may need to stay in the hospital two or three days.
Just after the procedure
Once your blood pressure, pulse, and breathing are stable and you are alert, you may be taken to the intensive care unit (ICU) or a regular hospital room. If the sheath was left in the insertion site, it will be removed from the groin or arm at the appropriate time.
Stent placement usually takes 30 minutes to two hours, but the preparation and recovery time may add several hours. This procedure is usually performed in the cardiac catheterization laboratory.
After the procedure
Avoid strenuous exercise and lifting heavy objects for at least a day afterward. Ask your doctor or nurse about other restrictions in activity. Call your doctor's office or hospital staff immediately if: The site where your catheter was inserted starts bleeding or swelling.
For the first five days, do only light activities.
Walking, climbing stairs and taking care of routine activities are usually fine. After five days, your doctor will likely say you can resume moderate activities, but you should avoid over-exertion that leads to shortness of breath, tiredness or chest pain.
In general, you can expect to return to work and normal activities in as few as three days. However, heart stent recovery time varies widely from person to person.
Stenting is a minimally invasive procedure, meaning it is not considered major surgery. Stents can be made of metal mesh, fabric, silicone, or combinations of materials. Stents used for coronary arteries are made of metal mesh. Fabric stents, also called stent grafts, are used in larger arteries such as the aorta.
Stents can cause discomfort or pain, commonly in the bladder and kidney (loin) area, but sometimes in other areas such as the groin, urethra and genitals. The discomfort or pain may be more noticeable after physical activities and after passing urine.
Although stenting is technically more difficult than standard PTCA, it can be achieved with a high primary success rate (94% to 97%).
A stent can cause blood clotting, which may increase the risk of heart attack or stroke. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute state that about 1 to 2 percent of people who have stented arteries develop a blood clot at the site of the stent. Doctors will usually prescribe one or more drugs to prevent clotting.
Discharge from the hospital for “elective” angioplasty is usually the day after the procedure and, in some cases, may even be the same day. Most patients are able to return to work within a few days to a week after a procedure.
You will be awake during the procedure. The doctor will use live x-ray pictures to carefully guide the catheter up into your heart and arteries. Liquid contrast (sometimes called "dye," will be injected into your body to highlight blood flow through the arteries.
The procedure is performed under local anesthesia which means that there is no need of fasting, no need of anesthesia and no need of stay in the hospital. It just takes 10 seconds to remove the stent.
A coronary angioplasty is performed using local anaesthetic, which means you'll be awake while the procedure is carried out. A thin, flexible tube called a catheter will be inserted into one of your arteries through an incision in your groin, wrist or arm.
Do Heart Stents Qualify for Disability? Heart stens alone do not qualify someone for Social Security disability benefits. However, if you have heart stens and you are unable to work full time because of it, you still may be able to qualify for Social Security disability benefits.
The most widely used surgical alternative to a coronary angioplasty is a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG).
One can go back to their normal routine within 2 to 3 days after undergoing the procedure, depending on the doctors' recommendations. However, patients who undergo this procedure must ensure they follow the above-mentioned lifestyle changes to lead a long and healthy life after stent placement.
It's a card that you carry in your wallet that tells the location of the stent in your body, the date of your procedure when you received the stent and your doctor's name and contact information.
Watch for saturated fats in butter, cream, cheese, fatty red meat, and poultry skin. Trans fats can be found in fried and packaged foods — they contribute to high levels of unhealthy cholesterol. Refined and processed grains. Think white bread and white rice.
Driving after a heart attack and a stent
If you had a heart attack and a stent (angioplasty) at the same time, you should not drive for at least two weeks.
Contraindications to air travel include myocardial infarction within the past two weeks, angioplasty or coronary stent placement within two weeks, unstable angina, recent coronary artery bypass, poorly compensated heart failure, and uncontrolled cardiac arrhythmias.
The meta-analysis showed that stents delivered no benefit over medical therapy for preventing heart attacks or death for patients with stable coronary artery disease. Still, many cardiologists argued, stents improved patients' pain. It improved their quality of life.
In a small percentage of patients with stents, blood cells can become sticky and clump together to form a small mass – or clot. When a blood clot forms, it can block the free flow of blood through an artery and may cause a heart attack or even death.