Ludhiana, July 13
The Cardiology Department of the Christian medical College and Hospital (CMCH) has made yet another contribution to interventional cardiac care by introducing for the first time in the city ‘drug-eluting stent’, which is safer and more effective in the prevention of ‘in-stent restenosis’ (narrowing of the arteries again after being dilated by
ballooning). According to Dr Rajneesh Calton, Professor and Head of Cardiology in the CMCH, the drug coated stents represent a breakthrough technology that offers a viable alternative to other approved technologies for treating the coronary artery disease.
“A number of therapeutic agents are being investigated for their efficacy in drug eluting stents. One of them being Sirolimus (Rapamycin) which is a naturally occurring antimicrobial agent. It is a cytostatic drug that stops cell division very early in the cell cycle without causing cell death. Sirolimus not only blocks this proliferation but allows normal healing to occur mostly by 30 days. New growth of endothelial tissues covers the stent and minimizes the risk of thrombosis with in the stent which in turn ensures that pathological changes in the vessel do not take place.”
Dr Calton said that the use of stents was a common intervention to treat stenosis (narrowing) in coronary arteries. Since the stents were first introduced in 90s, the in-stent restenosis (ISR) had proved to be the major limitation of interventional cardiology. The ISR was estimated to occur in about 30 percent of the patients who had a coronary stent implanted. The common problem might now be overcome by the use of drug eluting stents, which relied on targeted drug delivery to prevent the development of restenotic lesions without causing adverse systematic effects.
He further informed that the European Community (EC) had recently given approval to the clinical use of sirolimus eluting stent (Cypher, Johnson and Johnson) and the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration was also expected shortly. The stent had proved to be safe and efficacious in the prevention of ISR in both the diabetic and non-diabetic patients without any incidence of acute, subacute or late thrombosis.
The first procedure with the help of Cypher stent was successfully performed in the CMCH on Friday by a team of doctors headed by Dr Calton, Dr T.M. Jason, Professor of Cardiology in the CMCH and Dr Mohan Nair, Director, Cath Lab and Interventional Cardiology, Jaipur Golden Hospital, Delhi.
