A couple of years ago my grandmother had to have one of her arteries in her neck replaced with one from her leg. The new artery is called a "stent." A fairly common procedure, about 1 million Americans undergo the surgery annually. The surgery went fine and my grandmother is as healthy as she has ever been, but she may not have needed the surgery.
Dr. Michael Ozner said the surgery could be lifesaving for people who need it, but most of the people who underwent the procedure did it for precautionary measures. He said that the people who did need stents made up a small percentage of patients who did the procedure. Dr. Ozner stated that in a healthy patient, "putting stents in such patients is no more protective than following a heart-healthy lifestyle and taking medication and, if necessary, nutritional supplements to reduce cardiac risk." The stents may even cause blood clots in otherwise healthy patients. As with almost every procedure it is expensive ("about $60 billion a year in the United States") and dangerous. The surgery should be left to those who can seriously benefit from it, those who are seriously ill. Studies done show that people who did not need the surgery were just as healthy without it. If you suffer from severe chest pains or angina, a bypass would benefit you; however, pain receptors surrounding your heart are damaged during surgery so no pain is relieved from having the surgery.
You should consult your doctor before making any health related decisions, but I would think twice before paying for a surgery that I did not really need.
Monday, January 12, 2009
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I agree with this completely. I feel that people place to much faith in doctor's. Don't get me wrong there is no doubt that doctor's have a knowledge of their specific field but doctors are humans too and therefore make mistakes. My uncle was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was around 8 years old and he finally passed after a year of suffering through chemo therapy and extended hospital stays. A year before that he went to the doctor several times complaining about different abnormal symptoms that he was having and the doctor just said it was a cold or stress induced. Had my uncle gotten a second opinion or perhaps seen another doctor he may still be here today. My family and I will never know what could have been had my uncle found out sooner but to this day I question the validity of a single doctor’s opinion.
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