Working out on a treadmill? No sweat now for 71-year-old Mary Hammond, but a few months ago...
"I be walking through the mall and I couldn't walk anymore," Hammond said.
Hammond had peripheral arterial disease, or PAD. It's caused by buildup in the artery walls.
"I thought I was just getting old and my veins were getting ugly in my feet and stuff like that," said Hammond.
Doctors inserted a flex stent into Hammond's leg. Like the name suggests, it's flexible and self-expanding. It won't close, like other leg stents.
"Based upon preliminary information, it looks like it's going to be a quantum leap forward in terms of treating those vessels long term," explained Dr. Charles Lambert, medical director of Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute and Dr. Kiran C. Patel Research Institute.
The blood vessel before the flex stent has lots of clots. After the flex stent is in, the clots are cleared, and the artery is smoother.
"We hope to see much better long-term patency or it will stay open longer, because that's the principle problem in these vessels," Lambert explained.
Hammond's problem seems to be solved.
"I can walk," said Hammond. "I can walk great. I can walk through the mall 10 times and my legs wouldn't hurt me at all."
PAD can also be treated with exercise, medicines and bypass surgery in the legs. The flex stent is currently in the study phase right now.
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