The Risks of Heart Stents

Why are doctors killing or stroking out thousands of people a year for nothing? How do doctors even convince patients to sign up for procedures such as heart stents that are all risk without benefit?
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Starting to get angry yet? What do physicians have to say for themselves? What do stent companies have to say? That’s the subject of my next video: Angioplasty Heart Stent Risks vs. Benefits (nutritionfacts.org/video/angio....
If you missed the first few in this seven-part series, see Do Angioplasty Heart Stent Procedures Work? (nutritionfacts.org/video/do-an...) and Why Angioplasty Heart Stents Don’t Work Better (nutritionfacts.org/video/why-a....
All of these videos are available on a digital download of a webinar I did last year, which also includes a series on statins. You can find it here (drgreger.org/collections/vide....
UPDATE: A new meta-analysis was just published last month and alas, there is still zero survival benefit to stent placement for stable coronary artery disease, but at least there were fewer heart attacks. Since this still didn’t translate into actually living any longer, the foundation of treatment remains medical and lifestyle management. Hat tip to Dr. Bitterman! (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33742...)
Have a question about this video? Leave it in the comment section at nutritionfacts.org/video/the-r... and someone on the NutritionFacts.org team will try to answer it.
Want to get a list of links to all the scientific sources used in this video? Click on Sources Cited at nutritionfacts.org/video/the-.... You’ll also find a transcript and acknowledgements for the video, my blog and speaking tour schedule, and an easy way to search (by translated language even) through our videos spanning more than 2,000 health topics.
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Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM
Captions for this video are available in several languages; you can find yours in the video settings. View important information about our translated resources: nutritionfacts.org/translatio...
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[@NutritionFactsOrg]

As I say over and over in this video series, during a heart attack, in an acute setting, angioplasty can be life-saving. As I reiterate, when I’m talking about stable CAD, I’m talking nonemergency situations. In an upcoming series I talk about pros and cons of statin drug therapy. Spoiler: If you have a history of heart disease or stroke, taking a statin is recommended. All of these videos, including the upcoming statin series, are available on a digital download of a webinar I did last year. You can find it here: drgreger.org/collections/videos/products/how-effective-are-statins-and-stents-digital

[@vascoamaralgrilo]

I think the 53 07 is not supposed to be there in the title...

[@andrews.506]

Now… Who made a person a believe what person B was talking about, after that where did this content come from. ¿¿. If you still want to chat, drop another line. Dr. Gregor is providing good information on all of his platforms, I don’t read as much as I should… But I would love to. 🤓👌🏼💊

[@mutazsiddeeg8584]

So ,in short ,you prefer that cardiologist should wait till it becomes an emergency?!?!!?

[@jordan2869]

My dad went in for a stent procedure February 22nd 2019 planning to come home 16 hours later he died because when they give you a stent they have to give you blood thinners they didn't know he had a bleeding ulcer. I don't think he died from the stent but had they known he had a bleeding ulcer they would have never given him blood thinners first. He had one successful stent put in, in 2013.

[@clemensesche7673]

@@mutazsiddeeg8584 You can fix issues yourself with a plant based diet without sugar and wheat flour

[@Lexaire]

This is perhaps the most depressing series yet. So many people are getting these surgeries and thousands of people are going to die on the table when at best it doesn't even beat out a control for pain relief. If you need clinical trials for drugs, they should need evidence of efficacy for this too before they go performing it on millions of people.

[@andrews.506]

What's back up the statements Y0U are claiming? Where is you work, essentially? Thanks ;-D

[@wadepatton2433]

Depressing? I find it educational. We have all done things in the past that we wouldn't repeat because we have learned more about those things-whether that information was known or available at the time we first did such things. Enlightening is what I see. The more patients and doctors learn about what does and doesn't work, the more educated BOTH sides become, the more likely we are able to make wiser decisions. Dr. Greger is doing a great service for patients and doctors (and hey doctors are patients as well-and that may have them look at procedures proven to be ineffective, IF they are the sort that continues to upgrade their education independent of the companies that push these products and potions. I'm excited each time we learn more about what does/does not work, it can help us choose better paths. Here, the biggest lesson is that we MUST eat better to actually become healthier. And I have consistently, for six years now, thanks to Dr. G and many other like him.

[@KJSvitko]

Deal with the source of the problem. Everyone wants a quick fix done by someone else. They can't be bothered to change their eating and exercise habits. Personal responsibility is no longer emphasized. Every cardiologist should be required to provide nutrition advice before performing a procedure. They should send people to a 30 - 60 minute nutrition training session. Medicare should require nutrition classes.

[@sharit7970]

Yikes! Scary stuff...thanks for doing the research and posting!

[@jayoldsmith7629]

This is criminal. Heads should roll for this! It really disgusts me the lack of morals in some humans.

[@veganfortheanimals6994]

agree

[@J_L45]

I’ve found that HOOKERS often have better morals than DOCTORS 🥼

[@whenifeellow]

Greger just keeps getting better at delivering this information. Powerful.

[@qigong1001]

Hi not a vegan, but please listen to this guy about stents. Someone very close to me died during a stent procedure. He had what Gregor called stable coronary arteries. And doctor was still compensated a ton of money. The medical board nor anybody else would do anything about it.

[@entrehierroeideas]

Done in the best interest of the doctor, not the patient.

[@beyourself8701]

Thank you for this! Knowledge is powerful.

[@deepakhiranandani6488]

Thank you very much. However, I suspect there are people who simply would not listen because Dr. Greger is himself vegan or fully plant based. Of course I shall share this and hope for the best, but it's amazing how tenacious misconceptions, and hostilities, are.

[@EmilyGloeggler7984]

The problem is veganism has been documented to cause health problems and even deaths in people that shouldn’t be ignored. Greger is ignoring the natural medical evidence exposing the lies of veganism, as he himself is only a vegan because of his philosophy against animals. I support ex-vegans who have been harmed and lied to by Greger and all vegans

[@tgypoi]

It's incredible to me that even today doctors are still performing procedures with such poor evidence.

[@Lexaire]

It's the modern day witch doctor.

[@rogerthornton4068]

It's about the money.

[@Julottt]

business is business, same for v@xxines.

[@andrews.506]

Which rotation? Which person? Too many variables... Valid? Yes. Think Residency. Maybe?

[@dontworrybehappy5139]

@@rogerthornton4068 It would be naive to argue that it wasn't somewhat about the money, but I don't believe it is all about the money for every doctor. I believe many still think it is helping their patients. It is hard to underestimate how "set in their ways" many professionals get even when evidence shows that "the way we've always done things" is wrong. Doctors are no exception to this.

[@evaswan7727]

Thank you! I would like to know more about this subject!

[@xsh4n400]

This assault on stents is getting more savage by the episode. You can tell this man is about to drop some hard facts on ya

[@pdblouin]

I wonder if cardiac surgeons are paid per-procedure here in Canada. Because we're stenting people like crazy here, too.

[@ddpwe5269]

yep, they do. All doctors just bill the government. Even your family doctor does the same thing, they all bill the government for their services.

[@willynatanael2842]

Wow. Super eye opening! Thank you so very much Dr. Greger for doing this series! God bless you doctor Michael Greger and team!

[@phatvegan1691]

The Truth IS AMAZING 👏🏻

[@ashlynsule6856]

Thank you Dr Greger for the amazing research.

[@SSSyndrome214]

There's a great documentary out there called "Widowmaker" that explores some of the corruption and lack of efficacy surrounding cardiac stents. I saw it on Netflix years ago and it opened my eyes to this.

[@veganfortheanimals6994]

good to know

[@colprincess8579]

A stent killed my coworker within 6 months. I warned him but he didn't listen.

[@rjb1122]

Fabulous video. Very important information presented.

[@sungheelee9358]

Thank you, Dr Greger!♥️🙏

[@vascoamaralgrilo]

Thanks!

[@pastillascelestes4768]

Thank you

[@sojournern]

Careful Dr. Greger, you'll make us cynical as to whether doctors ever have our best interest in heart or are just trying to make money.

[@jayoldsmith7629]

Do you still have any doubts that most doctors are either stupid or in it for the money?

[@bonniemullen9820]

Good information Dr.Greggors💝🕊💐👏👏👏👏👍thank you💐

[@veganfortheanimals6994]

It's Dr. Greger, fyi

[@jimmy-jamesolivier-mccutch2126]

preach it doc !!!

[@carl13579]

To be completely fair, a stent may provide immediate pain relief to someone with stable angina. But that relief will statistically be short-lived unless the person also switches to a no-oil whole-food plant-based diet (because, otherwise, continued damage to blood vessels will lead to new blockages causing new pain). Of course, if they had made the diet switch without the stent procedure, there is a good chance that the angina would have gone away without the stent. But there are some people for whom the stent accomplishes what the diet will not. One of Dr. Esselstyn's patients who stayed on the diet decided to get a stent "to improve his golf game" if I recall correctly. Note that, more importantly, Dr. Esselstyn's work shows that the diet almost eliminates the chance of future heart attacks, a result far more important than whether it eliminates angina.

[@6681096]

That pain might also provide the constant reminder and motivation to fix yourself. Trying to eliminate all pain has contributed to numerous problems such as the opioid epidemic. Interfering with the body's feedback loop should be done judiciously.

[@J_L45]

I almost have ZERO TRUST left in Western Medical Practitioners. My medical charts read like the most graphic and violent horror movies you could imagine. I’m kinda relieved to have iatrogenic CPTSD from medical negligence/ abuse ; because I can easily disassociate nowadays.

[@Julottt]

Well, iatrogenic causes of death is 4th or 5th cause of death worldwide and thats not the death of at least 500 thousands people from the pharma drug Oxycontin that will lower this number...

[@J_L45]

@@Julottt go plant based. 🌱 I’m deluding myself thinking I can HEAL from CRPS and gastroparesis. Living in Australia with incompetent and negligent Doctors who don’t even know anything about the diseases I have. Thankfully I get some respite from psychedelic plant medicines. The Western Diet that they shoved down our throats is TRASH. Especially the American model. Omg. 🗑 🤢 All American fast food chains should be charged for CRIMES AGAINST ALL LIFE FORMS.

[@Julottt]

@@J_L45 You should search infos and learn about long water fasting at rest and try it, could help you a lot, i recommend Loren Lockman at Tanglewood in Costa Rica and his channel.

[@bernardthedisappointedowl6938]

Intriguing, ^oo^

[@tolrem]

I was trying to get this through the head of my sister who has had two stents,and I think is under the misapprehension that she is "cured".She says that she doesn't want to know because it worries her and I'm being nasty!Goes without saying that she won't watch any of Dr Greger's videos.

[@jefflebowski918]

Spoiler alert: it's all about the money

[@Waitaminutesilly]

Information spit fire on this video. Stent unblocks severly blocked coronary artery and it will keep it that way if the person takes meds and changes lifestyle. Those two are so important to reduce future cardiac events. Stents fix particular blockages but they do not solve for All blockages. They also can be clogged again. Stents are tool. Just with any tools, they should be used to solve for right problems.

[@dami2001]

First of all, I totally agree with Dr. Greger and with so many comments, I do not know much about medicine but, can we say perhaps that stents may work in the very short term as some sort of life saving procedure but indeed they utterly fail in the long term?Cardiovascular disease is a systemic disease that cannot be treated properly with drugs and procedures but with diet and lifestyle....thank you for reading, dami.

[@entrehierroeideas]

Thanks again dr. Greger, for denouncing this sort of medical indecency.

[@umairayub4440]

Dr gerger how treat triple coronory artery disease

[@jayoldsmith7629]

Watch all the videos on this channel!

[@GiuseppeZompatori]

This is a reply to Dr. Avi and Belardo's critics on twitter to Dr. Greger's last video.

[@l21n18]

it is?

[@andrews.506]

Great video.... ALL the way around. Love the production!!! My wife use to think you were the instructor from Peanuts. haha She wasn't listening, No biggie. ~Hoping to catch you in Midland! Enjoy your day Doc. Appreciate the work.

[@medinabello19]

Dr Greger gives it to you straight. Shoots from the hip. Expels the nonsense.

[@SonamHoani]

Thank you for your content, I truly hope for a shift in how we operate in this world (pun not intended :))

[@markbrad123]

Couldn't you use leaches to suck out blockages ? Google says : used for purposes are known as 'Hirudo medicinalis'. They are specially farmed for use. In , particularly plastic and reconstructive surgery, may be used to help improve blood flow in an area of tissue or a skin flap that has poor blood circulation.

[@theaccidentalsenior]

My husband had a heart attack 10 years ago and had 2 stents put in. Although I am great full for the doctors saving his life, I often wonder why he is on so much medication to thin his blood and lower his cholesterol. I have got him to eat a more plant based diet and periodically ask him to ask his doctor how he can decrease his medication if he is living a more healthy lifestyle. The doctor refuses. How can we tell if lifestyle changes are reducing his cholesterol or medication is?

[@meanoldbag]

I think you're going to have to find another doctor. My husband had open heart surgery 5 years ago and wouldn't really change his diet - was on all the heart meds. He had another heart attack and had two stents put in. This time he listened and adopted a PURE WFPB lifestyle. (we follow Dr. Caldwell Esselystn's approach). We also found a new primary care doctor who endorses and promotes the heart healthy Wfpb approach. My husband has lost 50 pounds in 17 months - is off all his heart and cholesterol meds except for a low dose of a statin. We had to ditch all main stream medical advice and find a 'rogue' doctor. And we all eat a no oil whole food plant based diet so happily I've also lost 30 pounds - :) best wishes to you and your husband

[@daraghosullivan1157]

I was diagnosed 8 years ago with very advanced heart disease. Like Sherry's husband, I switched all-out to a Dr Esselstyn-type diet. (I actually used the similar Dr Fuhrman diet specifically for heart patients.) So far, I have not needed stents. My cholesterol only went below 150 (without meds) after I went 100% on the diet, not 90% or even 99%.

[@plantbasedsaver7250]

QUESTION: Given the lack of efficacy, why do insurance companies cover such procedures other than during emergencies???

[@daraghosullivan1157]

$$$$$$. The insurance / medical industry works together to maximise their total revenue, ie our total health care costs.

[@jimmy-jamesolivier-mccutch2126]

eat your dark leafy veggies and anthocyanins rich foods or else...

[@gallectee6032]

That's not how it works. You can avoid these all together and not suffer cardiac events. What you have to do is get the consistent garbage out that does damage (animal products, junk food), people eat those 3 times per day all day every day.

[@Joseph1NJ]

Defensive medicine, a doctor can say he 'did his due diligence' and move on without any liability.

[@veganfortheanimals6994]

yep, that's what I commented on the previous video of this series

[@nellsgirl]

Is it true that after stent placement, one has to take blood thinners for the rest of one’s life?

[@katzensindweich3505]

Yes

[@vinz224]

No, only for a year

[@l21n18]

@@vinz224 that is a long time still

[@ChaiJung]

Important note: he's mistaken about the drugs used for stents causing heart failure. None of them have been shown consistently to cause HF. However, the theory by interventionalists is that the dye that's used is effectively a salt load and in the past had an increased osmolarity which could push someone into heart failure while they're getting fluids as well. The incidence in this study is likely related to that.

[@l21n18]

must be a lot of salt

[@PoGGiE06]

Presumably more of a problem in privatized healthcare systems such as the US?

[@mjanavel]

Because people (not all, of course)’ want to believe they will be saved if their gluttony goes horribly wrong.

[@Joseph1NJ]

Is the good doc going to get to statins soon?

[@AwesomeFDO789]

He didn't choose violence he choose war.

[@edwardbanegas2153]

So far I have 8 stents. Changed diet drastically over the years. More and more wfpb but I keep needing a bee stent about every 1.5 years. Lpa is sky high 477 Cutting out almost all meat, cutting out almost all oil, eliminated dairy years ago, Huge boosts in greens, beans and berries too.... NOTHING has slowed the progression of heat disease for me. Every new angiogram shows more blockages. WHAT DO I DO!!

[@jefflebowski918]

I'm not a doctor but are you eating oatmeal or on an aspirin regimen?

[@edwardbanegas2153]

@@jefflebowski918 Yes, smalle aspirin 2 times A-day. I eat goat milk most days. Also taking lysine proline and vitamin C high dose right now. Have been doing that for several months with no changes in lab work

[@daraghosullivan1157]

I have advanced heart disease, and have been able to do without stents or (mostly) statins for the better part of a decade by going 100% on the Esselstyn-type diet. I tried 90% and even 99%, and that didn't work.

[@veganfortheanimals6994]

@@daraghosullivan1157 Interesting, and thanks for sharing

[@veganfortheanimals6994]

@@jefflebowski918 just wondering what you were going to say about oatmeal, thanks

[@lorah3005]

#BoycottMeat and all other animal products of cruelty and exploitation in any way possible!

[@JustOneAsbesto]

Fire up the lawyers.

[@jayoldsmith7629]

Yes why doesn't somebody do that?

[@mutazsiddeeg8584]

I hope you stay in giving encaurging data to help people adopting plant based diet. From this video I assumed that cardiologist should wait till it become an emergency or liife_saving to do coronary stents !!!!!!!!

[@vrossi2596]

Likey 👍

[@chrisolson3240]

Thank You, for the slap in the face of medical information I'm about to share with naive people in my life! Today, is Wednesday, anything can happen day, According to the old Micky Mouse Club.

[@jeanneamato8278]

I’d be watching your back Dr. G for all those knives other doctors might be stabbing you with.

[@MrSuperbluesky]

$$$$$$

[@sojourner4726]

The answer to why is we commodify something that is a necessity. It is a feature of capitalist exploitation.

[@robinbjoernplatte1822]

comment for algorythm

[@PercivalBlakeney]

Stents pay more than common sense. Nice. ☺️

[@granadosable]

Stay away from doctors and stay healthy.

[@chrisolson3240]

Thank You, for the slap in the face of medical information I'm about to share with naive people in my life! Today, is Wednesday, anything can happen day, According to the old Micky Mouse Club.