Do I need open heart surgery after a heart catheterization?

"Some patients only need stents, some absolutely can only get bypass surgery, and there is a large gray area – talk to your doctor (or multiple doctors if needed)."
- Dr. Alexander Postalian, General and Interventional Cardiologist

Read More: https://www.texasheartmedical.org/our-specialties/cardiac-catheterization/

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Transcript

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I have chest pain and shortness of breath. When I exercise, I had a heart cath and was told I need open heart surgery. I know many patients get stents and that's it. Is someone lying to me? Okay. Stents and bypass are the two ways we can address significant blockages of the arteries that feed your heart muscle. Some patients, in some patients stents, is clearly the right answer. And another group of patients open heart surgery bypass is clearly the right answer. Now, there is a major middle point where there is a gray line where a stents might be more reasonable, might be more reasonable, but you could do stents and it's something that we have been studying for decades now, it all depends on the very specifics of your anatomy, of how the vessel looks, how it bends, how much calcium there is, how many vessels are affected, et cetera, et cetera. So yes, if you want a second opinion, I think it would be a good idea. Um, but like I said, a lot of the times, two options are reasonable, but philosophically, even though two options are reasonable, there is always an optimal approach. It's like in car racing, the perfect lap is out there. You just have to go and and do it. So yes, for most patients, one option is better than the other. Um, sometimes it's really hard to determine exactly which one.