PANAMA CITY — Biodegradable stents could possibly replace commonly used metal, pending a nationwide study one local hospital is taking part in.
Bay Medical Center Sacred Hearth Health System is participating in the study on biodegradable stents used to treat heart disease. About 2,000 patients across the country are participating in the study.
The trial is pending Food and Drug Administration approval.
In the case of treatment for heart disease, metal stents are inserted into arteries to keep them open for months following the surgery. As time passes, the stents become dispensable.
However, because of its material, the metal stent remains forever, said interventional cardiologist Dr. Amir Haghighat.
“After the first few months, it’s not as important; the flow has been restored and you don’t have to have it there,” Haghighat said in a video interview at a press conference Thursday. “That’s where the biodegradable stent comes in.
“At about the same time the artery no longer needs it, it’s getting dissolved away so it doesn’t leave behind any metal scaffolding,” Haghighat said.
The approach will allow the artery’s normal motion to be restored and ease later access to the artery, he added. Also, possible complications involving the metal stent in subsequent months will be precluded.
Patient Pam Vosbrink is participating in the study.
“There’s a history of heart disease in my family,” she said. “So anything that I could do to maybe help somebody else down the road was important to me.”
Vosbrink’s father died of heart disease 34 years ago to the date when she landed in the hospital to undergo heart disease surgery using the biodegradable stint, she added.