Radiating Arteries Helps Re-Open Them

S A C R A M E N T O, Calif., March 8, 2001 -- Vice President Dick Cheney’s recurring blockage in his coronary arteries is common in heart patients.

But a new procedure using radiation is revolutionizing the way doctors treat the problem.

Arteries often reclose, or experience restenosis, after angioplasty, which employs a catheter threaded through the vessel that has either a small balloon to open up the vessel or a stent, a scaffold that sits on the surface of the vessel to keep it open.

Approximately 700,000 balloon angioplasties are performed in the United States every year, with about 60 percent of them employing stents, according to the American Heart Association. Cheney, in his last hospitalization, received an angioplasty without the radiation.

Scar Tissue Blocks Stents

But often scar tissue builds up around these stents, blocking the artery again. Approximately 10 percent to 20 percent of patients who get stents will “restenose” within six months of treatment.

A blocked stent and pain happened to Peggy Buckley of Sacramento. “I just got one episode of heaviness in my chest and pain in my shoulder, but it didn’t seem to be going away,” she says.

To help, doctors used balloon angioplasty to reopen her blocked artery. Then they applied radioactivity through the catheter and onto the stent.

The procedure involves shooting radioactive pellets through the catheter up through the area of the blockage. After the pellets zap the site, they're sucked back through the catheter and out of the body.

Radiation Stops Cell Growth

The radiation blocks the production of cells so scar tissue cannot form.

“There’s about a 90 percent chance this blockage will not come back again around this radiation therapy,” says Dr. Michael Chang, a cardiologist in Sacramento.

In November, the Food and Drug Administration approved two devices to introduce radiation onto the stent.

The radiation is not without risks, though. Some doctors caution it may lead to more cancers in the future.

Buckley, though, felt great after her procedure, as blood flowed freely through her heart.

“I’m just ready to go back and play golf and do my treadmill,” she says.

Alicia Malaby of KXTV and Robin Eisner of ABCNEWS.com provided material for this report.