One of the most dreaded complications after percutaneous coronary arterial angioplasty is stent thrombosis. This serious untoward event usually results in acute myocardial infarction with high mortality. Stent thrombosis often occurs early, within 30 days of implantation, in patients who receive bare metal coronary arterial stents. However, patients undergoing drug-eluting stent implantation infrequently develop late stent thrombosis many months and even years after the deployment of these devices. Fortunately, stent thrombosis is a rather uncommon event.
Factors that favor stent thrombosis include technical problems during stent implantation; patients who undergo stent placement after an acute coronary syndrome or when diabetes mellitus is present; and patients with an intrinsic resistance to antiplatelet therapy.
To read this article in its entirety, please visit our website.
— Joseph S. Alpert, MD, Karl B. Kern, MD, Gordon A. Ewy, MD
This article originally appeared in the June 2010 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
