CINCINNATI, Ohio (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Do you ever struggle just to walk up a flight of stairs? Extreme weakness can be a signal that something is seriously wrong with your heart. Now a new device is help people regain their energy and save lives.
Lugging heavy groceries used to be exhausting for John Brinker.
“It would have worn me out to do this,” John Brinker, heart patient, told Ivanhoe.
John’s energy level had crashed.
An angiogram revealed a dangerous blockage in his coronary artery, severely reducing blood flow to his heart.
Doctor Dean Kereiakes with The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati used a new mesh scaffold to prop open John’s clogged artery.
“It will open the blood vessel,” Dean J. Kereiakes, MD, FACC, Medical Director at The Christ Hospital Heart and Vascular Center, told Ivanhoe.
It releases medication into the blood vessel. Then, unlike a metal stent, it disappears after the artery heals.
“It slowly dissolves like a lollipop in your mouth and goes away, leaving behind a normal appearing and normal functioning artery,” Dr. Kereiakes said.
John is one of the first patients in the U.S. to receive a dissolving stent. No metal left behind means a lower risk of clotting and stent fractures.
“I’m back as good as ever, maybe better,” Brinker explained.
Today John’s heart is healthy. He’s full of energy and even enjoys a trip to the grocery store.
The dissolving stent, called “Absorb,” is already approved for use in Europe and parts of Asia and Latin America. It’s being tested right now in the U.S. Click here for study information: http://www.lindnerresearch.com/pages/absorb/. MORE.
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Andrew Mcintosh at amcintosh@ivanhoe.com
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