Hi,I am Dr. Prabhakar Koregol (Cardiologist). I will be looking into your question and guiding you through the process. Please write your question below.
Can Stents For Artery Of Heart Cause Prickle Sensation Inside The Sternum?
I had a heart attack and subsequent stent placed in the main artery of the heart. I am faithful in taking the drug reguime. My INR, cholesterol etc have all styled to good levels. But I get an itchy prickle (no pain) inside my heart beneath the sternum.is the heart just healing around the stent, like a scab would?
The symptoms you are having is unlikely cardiac in nature. The stent is in an artery that is on the surface of the heart and not in the heart. As time goes by the stent becomes endothelialized (the surface of the stent that blood flows through is covered by the tissue that normally covers the inside of an artery). The time it takes for this to happen varies on the type of stent that were placed. You should not be able to feel this healing process as it occurs very slowly and the healing process is different from a healing external/skin scar and will not cause symptoms of itching/prickly feeling. Typical cardiac symptoms occurs with activity, stress, etc. If your symptoms are more noticeable with activity etc or occurs with the activity that caused the initial event then you should speak to your cardiologist about your symptoms. Also the heart tissue and its vessels never come in direct contact with the sternum with regular activity. You are doing an awesome job taking the medications prescribed by your physician team and I urge you to continue.
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Can Stents For Artery Of Heart Cause Prickle Sensation Inside The Sternum?
The symptoms you are having is unlikely cardiac in nature. The stent is in an artery that is on the surface of the heart and not in the heart. As time goes by the stent becomes endothelialized (the surface of the stent that blood flows through is covered by the tissue that normally covers the inside of an artery). The time it takes for this to happen varies on the type of stent that were placed. You should not be able to feel this healing process as it occurs very slowly and the healing process is different from a healing external/skin scar and will not cause symptoms of itching/prickly feeling. Typical cardiac symptoms occurs with activity, stress, etc. If your symptoms are more noticeable with activity etc or occurs with the activity that caused the initial event then you should speak to your cardiologist about your symptoms. Also the heart tissue and its vessels never come in direct contact with the sternum with regular activity. You are doing an awesome job taking the medications prescribed by your physician team and I urge you to continue.