My brother is 51 and had a mild heart attack. This happened on Tuesday morning. The doctor waited until Wed. morning to do the angioplasty and place one stent. After the procedure my brother has begun running a fever and has continued to complain of severe arm pain. He was awake during the procedure and overheard the doctor ask for a certain size stent and be told it was not available and that he would have to use another size. Now it is Thursday, my brother s arm is hurting even more, and he also has a severe headache. They did an MRI and say that now tomorrow morning they will repeat the angioplasty and replace the stent. What s going on? Is this normal?
It is difficult to know what is going on without being there. However, an angioplasty/stent procedure has a small chance of problem arising during or after the procedure that is unforeseen or unpredictable. Discomfort after stent placement is very common and usually not due to a problem. However, if discomfort is present and its source unknown, sometimes the only option is to go back and image the stent again. While seeking the source of discomfort, nitroglycerin is frequently used in high doses and may be the source of headache.