Tallahassee Memorial Hospital is the first in the nation to offer a dissolving heart stent. A new technology hospital officials say could reduce long term complications. A stint is a tiny wire is inserted into a clogged artery. It inflates, —smacking the blockage against the walls of the artery and letting blood through. But once the blockage dissolves, that little piece of wire remains, and it could cause inflammation or hinder future heart surgeries, such as bypasses. The dissolving heart stint goes away completely after two or three years, and could reduce the risk of future blockages.
Tallahassee Memorial Hospital was a center for testing of the dissolving heart stint—and the device was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug administration just last week.
TMH is one of just 11 facilities in the U.S. to offer the new device to patients.
Here's how it works:
