Hi, Dear dad is having the stent put into his carotid artery on Thursday. It's a 3 hour operation. Is this safer than a carotid endarterectomy? He's actually on blood thinners right now heparin I think they called it. I think maybe they didn't want to cut him open. Apparently a balloon goes up through the gunky artery and then it scrapes everything out then a metal band holds the artery open. I know with hardening of the arteries sometimes the arteries get twisty and turny. Okay, you folks who know... is this a risky situation, or is it like getting your appendix out. I thought the stent would be a lot safer...is it? There is a risk of stroke with either the stent or open surgery. Roughly 2-3 percent.
The decision of open versus stent depends on the patient or the doctor. The stent is safer in high risk patients, but in the hands of a good surgeon, there's not that great a difference.
Good luck to your dad. i believe this is a better way, than the open heart surgery i had open heart surgery and it was tough and i was only 45 and i have side effects from being on life support like bad memory and forgetting how to do things i used to do. I use to be a great speller and now i have trouble spelling the simple words and memory is not what it used to be, i ask the doctor about it and he said it was because i was on life support for a long period of time and that it should get better but it hasn't. unless it is absolutely necessary i would try to get around it | 