Heartache caused by stenosis of blood vessels in the elderly, doctors carefully “spread” the fragile blood vessels

Changjiang Daily Wuhan Client, April 19th (Correspondent Cui Yi) An 87-year-old man went to the doctor because of chest pain. The doctor found that her heart blood vessels were severely narrowed, and the calcification was as brittle as an eggshell. In order to solve the problem of angina pectoris, the doctor carefully used a balloon to help the elderly “open” the blocked blood vessels, and the elderly can finally sleep peacefully.

Grandma Yuan from Qingshan has suffered from hypertension, diabetes and chronic kidney disease for more than 20 years. In 2017, she was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment due to acute myocardial infarction. At that time, 80% to 95% of the middle left anterior descending coronary artery of her heart was stenotic and calcified, and the doctor placed her with a stent. For the next five years, Grandma Yuan took antithrombotic drugs such as Plavix for a long time.

A week ago, the old man had chest pains again, which recurred and could not sleep all night. On March 30, Grandma Yuan was sent to the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine of Wuhan Wuchang Hospital for treatment. Because of the elderly, abnormal renal function, and previous myocardial infarction, Wang Liyue, director of the Department of Cardiovascular Internal Medicine, organized a collective discussion among the staff and decided to perform coronary angiography to clarify the current vascular status.

On April 12, the results of coronary angiography were released, showing that the elderly had severe stenosis of the proximal left circumflex artery with distal occlusion, and diffuse lesions of the right coronary artery throughout the course. The doctors deduced that the lesion that caused the angina was the right coronary artery.

“Due to the stenosis of the right coronary artery in the elderly for many years, the calcification is severe, just like a hard eggshell. If it is not handled properly, dissection, coronary artery rupture or no reflow is likely to occur. The risk of surgery is extremely high.” Wang Liyue led the intervention team and department staff to conduct preoperative risk assessment. During the operation, the doctors were careful, opened the blocked blood vessels little by little, and carefully sent the drug balloon into the lesion to solve the stenosis problem. That night, the old man slept peacefully.

The elderly recovered smoothly after surgery.

After post-care and anti-infective treatment, on April 18, the old man had fully recovered and was ready to be discharged from the hospital.

Wang Liyue reminded that there are more and more patients with cardiovascular disease, and they are getting younger.

[Editor: Yu Lina]