# Cardiac stent or bypass?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardiac-stent-or-bypass/931218>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 22, 2021, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardiac-stent-or-bypass/931218 "2021-01-22T16:08:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 11

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**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardiac-stent-or-bypass/931218/11 "2021-01-22T21:16:07Z")

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I made a couple of posts in the thread referenced by @Exapno_Mapcase, most notably this one:

> [@Triple Bypass Surgery Experiences](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/triple-bypass-surgery-experiences/930351/17):
>
> I just want to add that my mention of “exploring the options” was based on the general principle that every patient should be making informed decisions. Needless to say, if your doctors are recommending bypass, it’s very likely to be the best or only option. But who knows. In my case, when I had my first angiogram, I was told that depending on what they found they might pop in a stent. What they found was stenosis in multiple arteries, and sent me back to my hospital room (I was there follo…

My situation was exactly the marginal case where either stenting or bypass might be feasible, but because the initial angiogram revealed more blockages (stenosis) than expected, I was sent back to my hospital room with a recommendation for bypass surgery. My rather strenuous objections led to a re-assessment and an agreement that stenting followed by a regimen of medication would be sufficient (though if I had been willing, bypass would probably have been marginally better).

I got the stenting as an in-patient only because I was already there following a mild heart attack. It’s sufficiently non-invasive that it can be done as an out-patient procedure. As with everything else, there are pluses and minuses and there are risks. I was informed that, as non-invasive as it is, the stent placement procedure can potentially trigger a heart attack (very unlikely, but it’s possible). It’s also possible to accidentally puncture an artery (also very unlikely, but possible). But overall I think there are more risks in full open-heart surgery, and certainly a more difficult recovery.

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