I have angina – should I get a stent?

by | Heart Attacks and Strokes

stent

So if someone has angina, there are basically four possible treatments.

There are lifestyle treatments related to diet, exercise, and weight control.

There are some medications that can be extremely effective to completely relieve angina and allow people to exercise.

There’s a procedure called a stent where we go into the blood vessel in the heart, look for the blockage and put in something to relieve the blockage, or there’s a bypass operation for people with several blockages.

And the recent evidence shows that in people with stable angina that’s not getting any worse that medications are every bit as effective as a stent and in fact, in the short term, have a slightly lower risk.

Professor David Celermajer is Scandrett Professor of Cardiology and Head of Cardiology at the University of Sydney.