Heart failure prognosis

[christi1977]

I have stage 2 heart failure resulting from a failed bypass.  My LAD and circumflex by-passed arteries occluded 4 weeks after my by-pass.   It has been 2 years, and I have adopted a healthy life style with exercise and weight control.  I wonder how long my heart can thrive with two of the major arteries gone even though I assume collateral arteries have taken over?  I also wonder what the likely progression of this disease will be.

[ed34]

If I get problems with my arteries again, I will make enquiries about having transmyocardial laser revascularization. This is relatively new and they make an incision across the ribs to access the heart. They then use a special laser which bores 1mm holes completely through the heart muscle wall, from the inner chamber to the outside of the heart. This promotes new vessel growth and very quickly benefits are felt. I recently watched a video where a man had 18 holes bored into his heart. About a month later he was able to go for long walks and felt better than he has in years.

[christi1977]

That is amazing!  You are right-there ARE doctors who have answers.  Thanks!

[ed34]

You are in the very same situation I was in, my triple bypass lasted just 3 months. My RCA and LAD were totally blocked and collaterals were crossing from my circumflex to the LAD to keep muscle alive, but useless for exercise. So, with just the ONE vessel being in good shape, I decided this was no good because there was no backup. If my circumflex closed, there would be nothing at all. I spent 2 years going to different hospitals to obtain different opinions. All of them said the same thing, "there is a 1 in 5 chance you will be killed in an attempt to open your LAD using Angioplasty". Those were not very good odds, so I was disappointed for a long time. I then did some deeper research, figuring out where all the real expert cardiologists are. I mean, the top dogs, the professors. I soon discovered that these cardiologists are the front line in research and training, not in the front line of daily procedures on patients. They kind of sit in the background doing amazing work but from day to day we don't see them. I found a fantastic research hospital in London called Imperial College and wrote a letter to a professor there, asking him to put my case around the experts. I just sat back and waited, hoping someone would see it as a challenge. A week later I received a letter from the Cardiologist who used the very first balloon in the UK and fitted the very first stent. He was excited about my case and so I went for a meeting. I expected him to say that the procedure was impossible but he was amazing. He said "by law I have to give a risk assessment, and because I'm not allowed to say zero, I will say 1% risk". I asked about the blockage which was absolutely SOLID, rock hard calcium, how could he get a catheter through it when all others have said it would be impossible. He replied "I'm the best because I have techniques I've developed over many years. I have yet to meet a blockage I cannot get through". I had the procedure done, the following day. He opened a blockage over an inch long, stented it, then cleaned up the complete LAD vessel and stented all the way down. I noticed that 4 cardiologists from hospitals I had visited were watching the procedure with complete awe. He agreed with my logic, collaterals need a feed, and if THAT feed declines, then everything suffers. After my LAD was opened, I have no idea how, but the RCA developed a bypass, looping around the blockage. My other collaterals all shut down and my LAD has been clear since 2009. I know it's still early days, but there is no restenosis as of yet.