has anti clotting drugs and angioplasty procedure been proven to be more of a benefit or a hazzard to patients

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Answers:
Personally, I believe these are more of a benefit than a hazard, if used properly.
Anti-clotting drugs, or blood-thining drugs, are used to make the blood less viscous (sticky). For patients already with blood clots or cholesterol plagues in the blood vessels, taking anti-clotting drugs can help prevent further growth of the clot, and so prevent heart attack, stroke, or other diseases due to blocked blood vessels.
However, because these drugs are for preventing the blood from clotting, taking these drugs would cause difficult clotting in wounds.

For angioplasty, it is a surgery done to open up blocked or collapsed blood vessels, most commonly in coronary vessels in the heart in patients with coronary heart disease. It involves inserting a catheter from the femoral artery (a blood vessel in the upper thigh) and up to the heart, with a deflated balloon at the tip. Upon reaching the blockage, the balloon is blown up to open up the blood vessel, then a stent (a frame) is put in the blood vessel to prevent re-collapsing of the vessel.
Angioplasty has now developed into a fairly sophisicated operation. The wound from angioplasty is quite small, and no matter how scary stuffing a catheter from the leg up to the heart sounds, it is done with general anaethesia (pain-killing) and does not pose much risk to the patient, except the possibility of overdose on the anaethesia!

Other Answers:
I have seen lives saved from using anticlotting drugs and I have seen damage minimalized when they are used in a timely manner. The big ones like Retrovase and TPA can open up the heart vessels within an hour.saving heart muscle. Before these clott busters are given, a questionaire is used to ask questions about a patient's history. The questions are geared to hopefully minimalizing possible bleed outs. On occassion there is a bleed out within the brain or elsewhere..it does happen and it can lead to death/brain death. Thing is, the risk is almost always worth taking compared to the surity of increased heart muscle damge..and possible early death if not used. For most, the use of clot busters saves heart muscle and gives the patient a chance at a longer and better quality of life.

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has anti clotting drugs and angioplasty procedure been proven to be more of a benefit or a hazzard to patients

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