2004-5-11
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
Strokes can take place when fatty material blocks the flow of
blood through arteries in the body. Soon, brain cells die from the
lack of blood. About one-hundred-fifty-thousand people die of
strokes each year in the United States alone. Stroke is the third
leading cause of death. Many more suffer permanent brain damage.
Blocked carotid arteries in the neck are a major cause of
strokes. The traditional treatment is an operation. Doctors open and
clean the arteries. Another treatment used in some countries now is
the Cordis Carotid Stent. Doctors use a small device that holds the
artery open.
Patients can stay awake while doctors place the carotid stent
inside an artery. They also can recover faster than from the
traditional surgery. Stents have similar use for heart patients.
In Washington, the Food and Drug Administration had a committee
of experts consider the carotid stent for use in the United States.
In April, the committee advised the F.D.A. to approve the system,
with some conditions. The system would be meant for high-risk
patients. These are people whose age or health makes the traditional
operation too dangerous.
The vote was close. Six of the experts supported the approval.
Five opposed it. The agency will now consider a final decision.
To use the stent, doctors make a small cut between the stomach
and the top of the leg. They place a small tube called a catheter
into the carotid artery. Then they pass the catheter up to the neck.
At the end of the catheter is the stent.
The doctors expand the stent to enlarge and clean the carotid
artery. Another device protects the brain from any plaque material
loosened by the cleaning process. The doctors then remove the
catheter. But the stent remains in place to hold the artery open.
Doctor Jay Yadav (YA-dav) of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio led a
study to compare the stent to the traditional operation. A division
of the Cordis Corporation that makes the system paid for the study.
Three-hundred-ten people were treated. About half of them had the
traditional operation. The others received stents.
Doctor Yadav said that after one year, the stent patients did as
well, and in many ways better, than those who had the operation.
This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Jerilyn
Watson.