Warfarin after stents ??

[WardijaWardija]

I've cheated the scalpel !! My quadruple bypass was cancelled as my surgeon didn't like my odds of my surviving the operation (I'm a chronic diabetic and have had a couple of TIA's). So I'm downgraded to having 4 stents inserted in 2 weeks time.

Is it inevitable that I will be put on Warfarin for life thereafter?

Any advice please.

[Bagrat]

When my husband had stents he had clopidogrel for a year and daily aspirin indefinitely. He didn't "graduate" to warfarin until he developed atrial fibrillation. It will depend on your particular circumstances I suspect as we are all different

[WardijaWardija in reply to Bagrat]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, already on the Aspirin 75mgs for the last couple of years since my TIA.

[HHH2017]

Im so pleased for you that you have dodged the scalpel!! But do take care as obviously you still need ongoing treatment. My mum has recently been diagnosed with AF an an excellent doctor spent a good amount of time with us explaining the modern alternatives to warfarin which require far less monitoring and blood tests. You may be able to be prescribed one of these.🤞🏽 Good luck with the stents procedure.

[WardijaWardija in reply to HHH2017]

Thank you HHH for your reply and support. To be honest I was not even aware that there were alternatives to Warfarin out there. Sadly I am not back home in the UK, I'm marooned in Malta, unable to fly, and awaiting my procedure here, and whilst Malta is still in the EU - Medical treatment is, let us say, Errm some way behind the UK - so all fingers, toe's and paw's are firmly being crossed over here. Thanks again.

[willsie01]

I’m pretty much a novice with these coronary issues so don’t know why you’re survival odds would be much worse as you are chronic diabetic. Could you enlighten me?

Wishing you rapid recovery and a many years of healthy coronary arteries!

Willsie

[WardijaWardija in reply to willsie01]

Thanks for your message and support. The only thing I can really tell you is two-fold. The first is that my surgeon said he wasn't willing to undertake the quadruple bypass that I had been referred to him for because he said due to my longstanding chronic unstable diabetes (25 years) and my history of TIA's (mini-strokes) his opinion was that I was quite unlikely to survive the long duration of the operation.

Although I respect his decision - as a health professional myself, I didn't just accept what he had said and looked up the medical data from recognized medical journals for myself, and indeed the data I read, supported his opinion that a quadruple bypass was in deed, a high risk procedure given my medical history.

It is indeed fact, that a bypass is the preferable option for most diabetics, opposed to stents, which carry a higher risk of having complications such as cardiac failure and strokes thereafter. But to sum up, his rationale was pretty much, give her the stents and she'll have a chance for some future life opposed to no life should she die on the table - a risk he was not prepared to take. So, quadruple stents it is to be !!

[lilymeg]

I have not had cardiac surgery but I have paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation and Tachycardia, after a 3rd DVT (16 1/2 centimetres long) behind my knee in 1998 the cardiologist started me on warfarin. In 2012 I changed to Pradaxa, dose 1 bd, which meant I didn't have to have lots of thrombo tests. Then big WOW, about 2016 I changed to Xarelto, rivaroxaban, where, even though it is a blood tninner, I only take 1 tab daily and no blood tests checks. In 2011 I had a hip replacement, in 2016 a total R knee replacement and 1 month ago a total L knee replacement. I ceased the blood thinner on the Monday, had surgery on Wednesday, resumed blood thinner on the Saturday. I do have a couple of blood problems, Activated Protein C resistance and Leiden factor 5.

Hope the above is informative. All the best.