Bypass, which is commonly used in serious heart diseases, is about to become a thing of the past. With the 1.5-year-long ‘drug-eluting stent’ method, even the most complicated vascular blockages can now be treated.
The method is the work of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer M. Değertekin, who went to the Thoraxcenter at Erasmus University Faculty of Medicine in Rotterdam, the Netherlands with a scholarship and conducted the first studies on humans. The application is described as a revolution in heart diseases. Within five years, 50 per cent of patients requiring bypass will be able to be treated with this method.
Stents applied in heart diseases other than bypass and drug treatment caused recurrence of complaints in 15 per cent of patients after a while. The stents in the blood vessel would form tissue due to reaction and cause narrowing again.
Scientists have been pondering how to prevent this for more than 15 years. One of those who showed interest in the subject was Assoc. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Değertekin, who won the European Cardiology Scholarship, which was awarded to only five people in 2001, and went to Thoraxcenter.
Working on a ‘drug-eluting stent’ to prevent stents from forming tissue in the vessel, Değertekin made the first application on humans. Değertekin’s scholarship was for six months, but when his professor wanted him to stay, he continued to work.
Degertekin, who is about to complete his PhD in ‘Interventional Cardiology’, is the first person to have a PhD on the method and also the doctor with the most publications on the subject. Değertekin said, “In the past, some patients who had stents inserted had tissue in their veins. Therefore, we had to resort to surgical intervention. This problem had been dealt with for 15 years. This method prevented the vessel from narrowing again and gave positive results in many of the patients we implanted stents, even in the most complicated ones.”
When Değertekin presented the method at the ‘National Cardiology Congress’ in Istanbul a few days ago, it caused an echo in the medical world. Stating that the study attracted the attention of many European and American journalists, Değertekin said that when the method was successful, it was applied in many parts of the world and the results were approved.
Emphasising that heart patients now have an alternative to bypass, Assoc. Prof. Değertekin said, “The drugs used were approved by both the American Food and Drug Administration and the European Health Institute. At Erasmus University, we implanted 2,83 stents in 1083 patients. Since Thoraxcenter is the first and most applied in the world, the USA is following behind,” he said.
Comparing the application with bypass and normal stents, Assoc. Değertekin drew attention to the following points: “Within two years, the number of patients who need bypass will decrease by 20 per cent thanks to this method. In five years, 50 per cent of patients requiring bypass will be treated with drug-eluting stents.
This does not mean that bypass will disappear, but if the method is actively applied, many patients will not need bypass. This is a revolution. Your success rate in surgery is 91 per cent, but 95 per cent of the patients you treat with the new method no longer complain.
There was no change in surgery between 1994 and 2003. But as of 2003, we see that the rate of patients who have stents and go to the doctor with complaints has decreased to 5 per cent. Thus, the number of patients going to surgery will decrease.”
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Değertekin stated that the drug-eluting stents were 5 thousand dollars when they were first released, and that it has now decreased to 3 thousand dollars. Stating that drug-eluting stents are cheaper than other methods, Değertekin noted that they will become cheaper as they become widespread.
Değertekin said, “In bypass, the patient’s chest is opened, he is hospitalised for a month, psychologically affected and cannot work for three months. However, with the drug-eluting stent, the patient can be discharged within two days.” The method is currently limited in Turkey as it is not covered by social insurance.
