Surviving a widow maker

11. September 2010 William Davis (19)
Gwen came to me 5 years ago. In her late 60s, she'd been having feelings of chest pressure for the past 4 weeks with small physical efforts, such as climbing a flight of stairs or lifting her grandchildren.

She sat in my office, heaving small sobs, accompanied by her daughter.

Gwen had already undergone a heart catheterization at a hospital near home by a cardiologist who I knew to be honest and competent. She'd been told that she had a 90% stenosis ("blockage") of her proximal left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery. He called it a "widow maker," since closure of the artery at this point can be fatal within minutes. He advised bypass surgery as soon as possible. Though a stent could be placed at this location, he felt that its proximity to the left main stem (i.e., the "trunk" that divides into the LAD and circumflex arteries) might be jeopardized by expanding a stent in this bulky plaque, what I felt was a reasonable concern.

I reviewed the images that she brought with her. Yes, indeed: a widow maker. The portion of the left ventricle (heart muscle) fed by the LAD was also impaired ("hypokinetic"), reflecting reduced flow through the artery.

I advised Gwen that her first cardiologist's advice was sound: This was a potentially dangerous and severe condition. Either a bypass or stent should be performed near-future, the less delay the better.

But Gwen and her daughter would have no talk of any more procedures. She'd come to me because she heard about the (then rudimentary) effort I'd been making at reversing coronary plaque. "I admire your commitment, Gwen, but I am concerned that there may not be sufficient time to implement a program of prevention or reversal. Prevention is very powerful, but very slow. When symptoms like yours are active, also, it can mean that we won't have full control over the plaque causing the symptoms. This risks closure of the vessel, since flow characteristics in the plaque are abnormal. I think that you should go through a stent or bypass. We can then start your prevention/reversal program once we know you're safe."

Gwen would still have none of it. I asked her to return in a few days after thinking it over. In the meantime, we drew her lipoprotein blood samples while she added fish oil, l-arginine (back then I used a lot of l-arginine for its endothelial health effects), and began the Track Your Plaque diet a la 2004. This was in addition to the aspirin, beta blocker, and statin prescribed by the first cardiologist.

Several days later, Gwen and her daughter returned, as committed as ever to not having a procedure and proceeding with our prevention/reversal efforts.

So off we went. I was nervous about Gwen's safety, but she had clearly made her mind made up. Gwen's lipoprotein analysis revealed a severe small LDL pattern along with markers for prediabetes (high insulin, high blood glucose, hypertension, along with the loose tummy of visceral fat). So I counseled her intensively in diet and added niacin.

Within 2 weeks, Gwen no longer had chest pain. Whether this was due to her efforts or to some resolution of an intraplaque phenomenon (e.g., resorption of internal plaque hemorrhage), I don't know. But her symptoms did not return.

As the program evolved, we added the new strategies along the way--vitamin D supplementation; elimination of all wheat along with other changes in diet; iodine and thyroid normalization; as well as discontinuing l-arginine after the initial two years. She also got rid of the statin drug after losing around 20 lbs on the diet.

It's now been six years with her "widow maker" and Gwen has been fine: no recurrence of her symptoms, all stress tests performed have been normal, reflecting normal blood flow in her coronary arteries.

Should ALL people with symptomatic widow makers undergo such an effort and avoid procedures? No, not yet. Prevention and reversal efforts are indeed powerful, but slow. Some people just may not have sufficient time to accomplish what Gwen did. The fact that Gwen showed evidence for reduced flow in the LAD worried me in particular. There is no question that mortality benefits for stenting or bypass of this location are not as large as previously thought (see here, for instance), but each case needs to be viewed individually, factoring in flow characteristics in the artery, appearance of "stability" or "instability" of the plaque itself, not to mention commitment of the person.

But it can be done.
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Comments (19) -

  • Anne

    9/11/2010 4:37:03 PM |

    WOW! That could have been me. I was in my late 50's with a 90% blockage of my LAD. I underwent stenting 3 times and ballooning once. A these procedures failed and I went on to bypass. The only advice I was given was to take an aspirin and eat a "heart healthy low fat diet" and exercise.

    I did not feel well after bypass until 3 years later. I was still short of breath and had edema in my legs. I gave up all gluten grains and my symptoms disappeared.  Now I follow TYP dietary guidelines and take lots of fish oil, D and some other supplements.

    I wonder what would have happened  had made the dietary changes before they started putting stents in me?

  • Tommy

    9/11/2010 6:12:38 PM |

    Last year my lab work was:

    Total- 191
    Triglycerides -87
    HDL-65
    LDL 109
    I had been eating a good diet and exercising for 30 years. Shortly after my blood work I had a heart attack anyway. (Completely blocked and collapsed PDA). I was also told that I still have a 40-60% blockage somewhere at the bottom of my heart.  They are “hoping” (I hate that) that the statin keeps it stable (yikes!).  
    I’m now on a statin but also adjusted my diet.  My next labs, 4 months later  were: Tri=67, HDL=40, LDL= 63.  I didn’t like that. So I adjusted my diet again.
    I cut out all wheat, no refined cabs at all, no sugar or anything containing sugar….none.  I’ve been taking extra fish oil (1800 EPA/DHA).
    Two weeks ago I had labs done.
    Total -129
    Triglycerides -43
    HDL - 46
    LDL – 74

    But at this point I don’t know if it’s the statin, the diet or the fish oil…or a combination of all three.  I can’t stand reductionalist methods and to me fish oil is just taking a part out of a whole thinking it is what makes you healthy.   “hmmm, people who eat fish are healthy, so lets take the healthy stuff out and use it.”  

    I may move away from the fish oil and see how just diet and exercise suit me.  I have read some issues with fish oil. Of course you know there are always two sides to everything…lol  I’d like to raise  my HDL. Since taking the statin it dropped . Does that stuff just lower everything?  I take simvastatin.   I’m hoping that the 40-60% blockage reverses.
    .    I’m also exploring coconut oil but can’t seem to get both sides of the story on that one.

    Any thoughts Doc?

    Thanks

  • Dr. William Davis

    9/11/2010 7:41:57 PM |

    Hi, Anne--

    Yes, indeed. Something we will never know.

    However, I believe it is entirely possible to make your first procedure your LAST procedure, aiming to gain full control over your heart disease so that you never require any more stents, bypass, etc.


    Hi, Tommy--

    This looks like a weight loss effect to me. That is, eliminate wheat, cornstarch, sugars, and weight drops. At first, HDL will also DROP, only to rebound upwards over the ensuing months.

    That's why I tell everyone on our Track Your Plaque Forum discussions that patience often pays.

  • Ellen

    9/11/2010 8:11:17 PM |

    Tommy, try the coconut oil. My lipid profile was very much like yours-- low everything and when I implemented coconut oil (at least 2 TBS a day)-- my HDL skyrocketed up to 81! LDL went up too, it wasn't bad. Trigs stayed low.

  • Tommy

    9/11/2010 8:25:56 PM |

    I've been doing some coconut oil but being conservative. Using it in cooking and taking a tablespoon here and there....not exactly daily. I'll try upping this.


    Thanks

  • Anonymous

    9/11/2010 9:31:05 PM |

    Dr. Davis, why did you decide to stop the arginine for this patient?  When you use, it what is the dosage?

    Thanks,
    Art

  • Paddler Peril

    9/12/2010 7:59:59 AM |

    Hoping I can achieve a similar result, but having to go it alone as I haven't found a GP or cardiologist able to assist. MI in June '09 with three stents in proximal LCX/OM1 and 2 stents in D1/LAD. Stenosis in RPDA untreated.

    Am following Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint and supplementing with Nicotinic acid, fish oil, Vit D, magnesium and an ACE antioxidant complex. Feeling 110% since giving up the prescription meds

  • Anonymous

    9/12/2010 12:06:30 PM |

    Dr. Davis, wondering about Gwen's LAD stenosis 6 years later.  I know we don't want to schedule unnecessary heart caths, but a situation like this it would seem well worth the effort to take a look again to see if there truly is regression of that plaque.  If there was, it would make for a fascinating presentation at conferences, and would turn a majority of the specialty on its ear.

  • Alfredo E.

    9/12/2010 3:08:45 PM |

    Dr. Mark, I also would like to know the reason you eliminated the L Arginine supplementation.

    Thanks

  • Anonymous

    9/12/2010 5:55:02 PM |

    Thanks for the post.  I like the way you caution the woman and advise a stent, rather than blithely indicating that a diet change can magically make her risk free overnight.  Of course she had the choice, as an adult, to refuse the procedure, but at least she knew the seriousness of the situation.

    Nina

  • Dr. William Davis

    9/12/2010 7:53:07 PM |

    I believe that l-arginine's effects overlap greatly with that of vitamin D, as well as several other strategies, including fish oil and the diet I use.

    While l-arginine provides benefits upfront, I believe that other strategies eventually provide similar effects, making the arginine redundant.

  • Eva

    9/13/2010 4:15:30 AM |

    Interesting, I wonder if chest pain abated due to increased health of the heart itself.  When my mother went paleo she had rapid improvements in blood pressure and heart rate.  Heart rate went from about 90 beats per minute to about 70. This only took a few weeks and her energy level soared.  Perhaps the heart responds rapidly to a healthy diet.

  • mikroenjeksiyon

    9/13/2010 1:55:44 PM |

    It's very interesting. Thanks to the author....

  • Jonathan

    9/13/2010 2:06:10 PM |

    @Tommy - Please consider stopping the statin.  It will make your HDL go down as well.  Your trig came down because of the carb reduction.  The lower you get your total the more risk you are at for cancer, infection, and host of other all-cause-mortality.  Plus, if you look at heart attack risk charts, the farther below 200 you go on cholesterol, the more risk you are at (it's an upside down bell curve).  Artificially lowering cholesterol is not good! Fixing the underlying cause that the body is producing more cholesterol to fix is more important.

  • Anonymous

    9/13/2010 6:15:05 PM |

    Thanks for your reply Dr. Davis.  

    Nick

  • Anonymous

    9/13/2010 11:41:41 PM |

    Can anyone recommend a good coconut oil? Do you take capsules? Do you heat up a solid and spoon it down?

    -- Boris'

  • Anonymous

    9/14/2010 12:30:11 AM |

    Tropical Traditions has very good coconut products.
    www.tropicaltraditions.com

  • auntlaura

    9/14/2010 3:04:41 AM |

    I keep reading and find nothing about aortic stenosis--I have been diagnosed with mild to moderate, plus mitral valve regurgitation. Will the changes I read on this blog help this? I have been told I have to wait for valve replacement until it is worse.

  • dave48_australia

    9/15/2010 5:26:41 AM |

    A year ago I failed an exercise stress test and had an angiogram which revealed 70-90% blockage of 3 arteries. I was recommended for immediate triple bypass surgery. I also had typical high cholesterol, high triglyceride, high LDL low HDL.

    Having a deep distrust of the medical machine, and desperately searching for a solution, I luckily found your blog and have dutifully carried out your recommendations regarding diet and supplements and exercise.
    I feel so much better already after only 3 months off wheat. I am not breathless anymore when exercising -(interval training on stationary bike), no more blocked sinuses and my fat profile has improved out of sight.
    I finally had the courage to tell my cardiololgist- "NO", my body has enough intelligence to heal itself thanks. I don't want your patch up job!
    Thanks Dr. Davis for sharing you insights with the world! I am so glad I found you!

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Be patient with niacin

19. January 2007 William Davis (0)
Mel's HDL started at 37 mg/dl one year ago. Mel had several other abnormal lipoprotein patterns along with his HDL (inc. small LDL and Lp(a)), but HDL was clearly a crucial factor in his panel.

With a heart scan score of 1166, we needed to raise Mel's HDL to the Track Your Plaque target of 60 mg/dl. So Mel started niacin, our number one method to raise HDL, in addition to reducing his exposure to wheat products and other high glycemic index foods; increasing his physical activity; trying to reduce his excess tummy fat; fish oil; dark chocolate (2 oz per day) and red wine (1-2 glasses per day, preferably dark French reds). The form of niacin we often choose is SloNiacin (Upsher Smith), available over-the-counter for about $12-14 per 100 tablets.

Mel started out with niacin 500 mg per day at dinner, increased to 1000 mg at dinner after four weeks. Although this is usually too soon to reassess HDL, Mel insisted. His HDL 41 mg/dl. Mel's disappointment was palpable. He was the usual type A personality: he wanted his HDL higher--now! So Mel insisted that we increase niacin to 1500 mg per day. (We never go higher than this if low HDL or small LDL is the indication for niacin; only when Lp(a) is present do we go higher.)

Six months into this process, HDL: 45 mg/dl. Still a sluggish response.

One year later, HDL: 68 mg/dl. Finally!

That is typical for niacin, as well as combination of lifestyle changes Mel made. None of them result in an immediate rise in HDL; all take months to 1-2 years to exert full HDL-raising effect.

Think of HDL as the 82-year old grandma who takes a long time to cross the street-she does get there!

Note: Doses of niacin >500 mg per day should be taken with medical supervision.

Can vitamin D be a SOLE risk factor?

18. January 2007 William Davis (6)
Here's a crazy question. It occurred to me as I was talking to Drew, a slender, active 54-year old dentist with no bad habits including no smoking.

Drew's heart scan score was 222. His lipoprotein analysis mostly revealed a lot of nothing, which is unusual. The only pattern that showed up was a modestly high LDL of 122 mg/dl with a very slight excess of small LDL. That's it. I would not be satisfied that these were sufficient cause for Drew's level of coronary plaque.

Drew's 25-OH-vitamin D3 level: 15 ng/ml--severe deficiency--despite the fact that his doctor had suggested that he take a vitamin D2 preparation. In other words, Drew had been profoundly deficient, probably for years.

Given the unimpressive cholesterol and lipoprotein values, could vitamin D serve as a trigger for coronary plaque all by itself?

I don't have an answer and know of nobody else who does. However, my opinion is that vitamin D is indeed a potent risk that can cause heart disease as a sole risk factor.

Perhaps it's another piece of circumstantial evidence suggesting that vitamin D has an enormous influence on health, including coronary plaque. Interestingly, the only other health problem Drew has had is prostate cancer, treated a few years ago with prostate removal and radiation. Good evidence suggests that vitamin D deficiency escalates risk of prostate cancer substantially.

By the way, I've seen people taking vitamin D2 preparations, called "ergocalciferol," who are every bit as deficient as those who take no vitamin D at all. Avoid D2 or ergocalciferol preparations: they're worthless.

Does fish oil raise LDL cholesterol?

17. January 2007 William Davis (1)
Katie had an LDL (conventionally calculated) of 87 mg/dl, HDL of 48 mg/dl.

She added fish oil, 6000 mg per day. Three months later her LDL was 118 mg/dl, HDL 54 mg/dl. In other words, LDL increased by 31 mg. What gives?

Several studies have, indeed, shown that fish oil raises LDL cholesterol, usually by 5-10 mg/dl. Occasionally, it may be as much as 20-30.

Unfortunately, many physicians often assume that it's the (minor) cholesterol content of fish oil capsules, or some vague, undesirable effect of fish oil. It's nothing of the kind.

Since we based Katie's program on (NMR) lipoprotein analysis, not conventional lipids (HDL, calculated LDL, triglycerides, total cholesterol), I knew that Katie also had a severe excess of intermediate-density lipoprotein, or IDL, and very-low density lipoproteins, VLDL. This signifies that after a meal, dietary fats persist for 12, 24,or more hours. Fish oil is a very effective method to clear IDL and VLDL, though sometimes it also causes a shift of some IDL and VLDL into the LDL class. Thus, the apparent increase in LDL.

Another contributor: Conventional LDL is a calculated value, not measured. The calculation for LDL is thrown off by any reduction in HDL or rise in triglycerides. In Katie's case, the rise in HDL from 48 to 54 means that calculated LDL is becoming more accurate and rising towards the true measured value. At the start, Katie's true measured LDL was 122 mg/dl, 35 mg higher than the calculated value. Calculated LDL is therefore approximating measured LDL more accurately as HDL rises.

The most important lesson to learn is that, if LDL rises significantly on fish oil and you haven't had lipoproteins formally measured, there may have been a substantial postprandial abnormality like IDL that was unrecognized.

Heart disease is everywhere

16. January 2007 William Davis (0)
If you ever need convincing that heart disease is everywhere, you should do what I do: subscribe to Google Alerts and have them forward news anytime the search phrase "heart attack" crosses the web. (Just go to Google, click on "more" to the right of the search bar, and follow the links.)


Some recent samples:


Workmates resuscitate driver after heart attack

A woman coal mine truck driver had a heart attack and required resuscitation with a defibrillator 3 times on the way to the hospital.





Heart attack kills groom at reception
A 34-year old man died during his wedding reception, leaving behind his 26-year old new wife.






Heart attack ruled as cause of crash

An Alabama man drove his pick-up truck into oncoming traffic while suffering a heart attack.






Heart-attack victim to return to Hamburg stage


Country music artist, Michael Harding, suffered a heart attack and cardiac arrest during a performance. He is apparently recovered and returning to the stage.



That's just a sample from the last two days. While you and I are carry on a conversation on reversal of heart disease, our neighbors and friends drop over every day. Even though I witness successful heart disease reversal routinely, the rest of the world is not participating.

Pass it on: Coronary disease is identifiable, preventable, controllable, and reversible.

Watch your weight plummet:Be a super vegetarian

14. January 2007 William Davis (0)
Here's a neat trick for losing weight: Become a strict vegetarian for 3 days.

Before you yawn or say "Yecchhhh!", let me elaborate.

Pick some time period. It doesn't have to be 3 days. It could be 2 days, or 5 days, or two weeks. But, for the period you choose, eat only vegetables. No meat, cereals, breads, milk, cookies, etc.

Vegetables alone could get monotonous, so make them interesting. Possibilities include:


--Hummus--add a little bit of olive-oil, chopped garlic, paprika, red pepper.

--Tabouleh--I get mine from Trader Joe's and it's delicious.

--Salsa--Low in calories, rich in lycopene and other flavonoids, with no nutritional downside. Also, pico de gallo--chopped tomatoes, onions, jalapeno chiles, cilantro, cucumbers.

--Mustards--hot, yellow, brown, spicy, gourmet, horseradish, etc.

--Cocktail sauce--i.e., ketchup and horseradish. Use the low-carb ketchup made without high fructose corn syrup.

--Tapenades--e.g., olive tapenade made with chopped olives, capers, and olive oil.
--Pesto-made with basil, garlic, and olive oil.

--Spices and herbs--basil, arugula, peppers, mustard powder, garlic, cilantro, ginger, etc.

--Vinegars--wine, Balsamic, rice, apple cider.

--Infused olive oils--infused with garlic is especially delicious,e.g., added to hummus.

--Bean dips--white bean dip, roasted bean dip, etc.





With the varieties of ways to jazz up your vegetables, you couldn't possibly be bored.

For example, for breakfast on day 1, eat sliced cucumbers and green peppers dipped in garlic-infused olive oil hummus and a handful of almonds. For a snack, some walnuts, sunflower seeds, sliced zucchini dipped in salsa. For lunch, a salad with an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. For dinner, tablouleh, a cucumber and tomato salad, celery sticks dipped in pico de gallo.

All vegetables can be eaten without restricting portion size, since calorie content of vegetables are so low compared to other calorie-dense foods. (See The Heart Scan Blog from a few days back, "One bit or many mouthfuls?" at http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/one-bite-or-many-mouthfuls.html.)

This approach works nearly as well as fasting. A half-pound per day weight loss or more is common and painless. You'll also feel great living on low glycemic index foods.

(Photos courtesy Wikipedia.)

Dr. Agatston to the rescue

12. January 2007 William Davis (0)

Dr. Arthur Agatston, author of wildly successful South Beach Diet, has just released a new book titled The South Beach Heart Program. Dr. Agatston has started on a media speaking circuit to promote his book and concepts.


A reporter from Time, who interviewed Dr. Agatston, commented:

". . .not enough doctors prescribe niacin for their heart patients, even though the medicine is a proven treatment for raising 'good' cholesterol. Physicians are reluctant, Agatston suggests, because niacin requires diligent follow-up to watch for side effects, taking time that most primary-care practices cannot afford. On the other hand, he says, too many doctors are performing heart operations that represent a financial windfall for hospitals. Bottom line: there isn't as much money to be made in prevention as in treatment."

Amen.

Dr. Agatston echoes many of the concepts that the Track Your Plaque program advocates. His notoriety is going to help disseminate the idea that 1) CT heart scans are the #1 method to identify hidden atherosclerotic coronary plaque, 2) taking control of your heart scan score is the best way to seize hold of your future, and 3) the present-day popularity of heart procedures like stents and bypass is intolerable, inexcusable, and needs to be reined back.

Agatston also brings great credibility and fairness to the conversation and his comments will gain tremendous attention in the press and with the public.

When is a vitamin not a vitamin?

12. January 2007 William Davis (0)
When it's a hormone.

That's the stand that several researchers in vitamin D have taken and I think they're right. Dr. John Cannell has made a fuss over this in his www.vitamindcouncil.com website.

Structurally, vitamin D is most closely related to testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol. You wouldn't call testosterone vitamin T, would you?

Vitamins are also meant to be obtained from food. Yes, vitamin D is in milk but only because humans are required to put it there to prevent childhood rickets. Otherwise, the only substantial food source of vitamin D is in oily fish like salmon and then only a modest quantity.

Vitamin D is cholecalciferol, a hormone. Deficiencies of hormones can have catastrophic consequences. Imagine that every winter your thyroid gland shuts down and produced no thyroid hormone. You'd get very ill, gain 30 lbs, lose your hair, feel awful.

That's what happens when you're sun deprived and thereby deficient in cholecalciferol--you're deficient in a hormone. And it happens to most of us every year for many months.

I continue to witness spectacular effects by bringing 25-OH-vitamin D3 blood levels to 50 ng/ml with supplementation, including an apparent surge in success dropping heart scan scores.

An epidemic of heart disease reversal

10. January 2007 William Davis (3)
Heart disease reversal is nothing new in my office. However, I have to admit that it's not something that generally happens each and every day.

As our approach is refined, we are witnessing an unprecedented frequency of plaque reversal. Since Monday (today is Tuesday), I've seen four people who have regressed their coronary plaque and dropped their heart scan score.

Pat was the most recent addition to this list. At age 53, I was honestly surprised at the ease of dropping her heart scan score from 128 to 42 in the space of a year. I was surprised because among her lipoprotein patterns was the dreaded combination of lipoprotein(a) and small LDL, probably the most aggressive risk for heart disease I know of and also among the most difficult to gain control over. She also suffered a deep personal tragedy in her family, an emotional convulsion that can sometimes wipe out any hope of plaque reversal.

I'm hopeful that this virtual epidemic of heart disease reversal continues. And I hope that you participate in it.

Second heart scan and heart attack risk

9. January 2007 William Davis (0)
At first, Joe felt disappointed, defeated, and frightened. After his heart scan, a radiologist at the center told him that his score of 264 was moderately high. He told Joe that he was at moderate risk for heart attack and that a nuclear stress test was going to be required.

This left Joe feeling confused. After all he'd had a heart scan 18 months earlier and his score was 278, 5% higher.

I reassured Joe that the radiologist had not been aware that Joe had a prior heart scan. The radiologist didn't know that Joe's heart scan score had actually been reduced.

In fact, Joe's risk for heart attack was not moderate--it is now very low, since his score was 5% lower. While growing plaque is active plaque, shrinking plaque is inactive plaque and thereby at far less risk for heart attack.

I wrote about this phemonenon in a previous Blog: When is a heart scan score of 400 better than 200? at http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html. When you've had more than one scan, the risk for heart attack suggested by the score takes a back seat to the rate of change of your score. In other words, even though Joe's score of 264 represented a moderate risk (of approximately 3% per year, roughly 30% over 10 years), this no longer held true, since it actually represented a 5% decrease over a previous score.

Joe's risk for heart attack is probably close to zero. ALWAYS view your second (or any subsequent) heart scan score in the context of your previous score, not in isolation.

Track Your Plaque newsletter subscribers: We will detail more of Joe's story in the coming January 2007 newsletter. If you'd like to read or subscribe to the newsletter, go to http://www.cureality.com/f_scanshow.asp.

Heart scan curiosities #5

8. January 2007 William Davis (1)
Despite the controversy over drug-coated stents, I maintain that the best stent is no stent at all.

Yes, there are indeed times when such things are necessary, but not with the frequency that they are implanted nowadays.

Another reason why stents are an undesirable phenemenon is that they muck up your heart scan. Take a look:





The long white object in the center is a stent in the left anterior descending artery of this 60 year old man. Just beyond the stent (at about 1 o'clock from the stent) is a plaque that could be scored. However, you can see that, with the presence of the stent, the bulk of this artery is no longer "scorable". If this man wishes to "track his plaque", he will have to be content with tracking only the circumflex and right coronary arteries, the other two arteries without stents.

The stainless steel or similar metallic materials of current stents simply prevent us from seeing through them for plaque scoring purposes. It's best if you can simply avoid getting one for this and other reasons.

Track Your Plaque Members: Watch for the upcoming editorial by our Heart Hawk on drug-eluting stents.