After mowing the lawn one day, Frank began to experience intense chest pains, which led him to the hospital where it was quickly confirmed that he had experienced a heart attack.

Today, many patients entering emergency rooms with heart attack symptoms are given a new, rapid and accurate diagnostic test using advanced medical technology. This test identifies elevated levels of certain proteins or peptides in the blood to determine if the patient suffered a heart attack or heart failure. Because of this test, today doctors miss fewer heart attacks and can provide rapid treatment when needed.

After diagnosing his condition, the doctors who examined Frank determined that he needed to have a stent inserted into his clogged coronary artery to allow adequate blood flow. The stent — a tiny, mesh-like tube — is moved to the blocked vessel via a catheter that is threaded up through a leg artery to the heart. Approximately one million coronary stents are implanted every year worldwide.¹

Stents and other advances in cardiovascular disease treatment have revolutionized medical care and helped to save the lives of millions of people. In fact, mortality from heart disease has plummeted almost 50 percent in the past 20 years.

Cardiovascular disease, however, remains America’s No. 1 killer. It is also the costliest disease in terms of annual medical expenses, with $257.6 billion in direct costs, and $145.5 billion in indirect costs, or costs due to lost productivity and increased disability. Nearly 2,500 Americans die of cardiovascular disease every day.³

Frank received a drug-eluting stent, which has a thin coating of medicine on the strong and flexible stent wire scaffold. The drug on the stent helps protect Frank from a re-blockage of a treated coronary artery, which occurs in as many as 15 to 20 percent of patients who receive a non-coated stent.⁴

Frank’s stent treated the severe blockage that likely led to his heart attack, improving the blood flow to his damaged heart. Prior to the advent of stent technology, procedures to restore blood flow in the arteries of the heart involved a dangerous open-heart procedure called a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG).

Frank awoke from his procedure with little more than a sore leg where doctors had inserted the stent, and was home within a few days to finish his yard work. He said, “It was almost like it never happened because it was so non-invasive. It put me back on track almost immediately.”

Stents provide a less invasive, safer and more reliable treatment and contribute to the patient’s quick recovery when compared to expensive and lengthy open surgical procedures. Research has shown that drug-eluting stent procedures cost several thousand dollars less than CABG surgery. In one analysis, the initial cost of stent implantation, including hospitalization, physician fees and repeat procedures, was 29 percent less than bypass surgery. Medical costs more than a year after the stent procedure, when adjusted for patient differences in extent of coronary artery disease and diabetes, were 21 percent less.⁵

After his experience, Frank is still striving to stay in peak physical condition and is grateful for every day. Now he spends his time renovating houses with his wife of nearly 46 years and playing with his grandchildren. He said, “I’m so thankful that this medical technology allowed me to return to normal so quickly after a potentially deadly heart attack.”