Our health correspondent Dr. Emily Senay is here to tell us how the technology is being improved. Angioplasty unclogs a blocked artery by snaking a tube into the blockage and expanding a balloon to push it back open again. But the problem is keeping the arteries from clogging up again over time. That solves the problem for the majority of patients, but for some it's not that easy. The problem is the body's natural healing process.
Scar tissue forms around the stent to help the artery heal.
So even if you had a stent put in very soon after the procedure, you may need another one because the blockage has reoccurred, according to Leon. In the United States, about 150,000 patients this year will develop scar tissue on the inside of their stent, requiring an additional procedure. Soon doctors will try a brand-new approach. Starting next week, doctors at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York will begin testing a new stent coated with a drug to prevent scar tissue from forming. One of the commonly used and very effective stents is now covered by a thin film that we call a polymer, and within the polymer is a mixed drug, in this case, rapomycin.