They are tiny, flexible, spring-like devices that prop the artery wall open. As in 20 to 30 percent of stents, Brown s clogged up again, a condition known as in-stent restenosis. For the most part, the procedure is performed like a traditional balloon angioplasty. Then radiation is delivered. Beta rays sit in seeds at the tip of a long catheter.
Water pressure forces the tube up to the clogged spot.
A Geiger counter is used to make sure there is no radiation in the room. Radiation won't entirely cure the problem of restenosis. But it reduces the chance from 60 to 40 percent. Archibald Brown was one of the first people in Hampton Roads to receive radioactive seed implants for prostate cancer several years ago.