hi. my husband has damaged heart muscle fro mwhat we think was undiagnosed heart attack years ago. he is on several meds: toprol, lisenoprel, coreg and newest niasen (sp)..he has been complaining of chest tightness at times, went to see his cardio guy. did stress test came back abnormal at "tip" of heart. he wants to do an angio. he had one and a stress test 2 years back and they were normal. at this point in time, is it worth a 2nd opinion or shoudl he go ahead with angio. dr told him 1 in 1000 patients dont survive?? seems high to me and i am scared for him
Hi, Positive stress test means there is possible blocked artery in the heart and the heart muscles are viable. If he has a heart dysfunction also so I recommend you to go ahead with the angiography as after opening it heart muscle may recover. Risks in angioplasty includes bleeding because during and after angioplasty we give blood thinners. This risk is also very low & very rarely is life-threatening. Medicines along with opening of blocked artery will result in recovery of heart muscles gradually. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.