HEALTH REPORT - Carotid Stent

HEALTH REPORT - Carotid Stent
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Wednesday, May 12, 2004

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Strokes can take place when fatty material blocks the flow of blood through arteries¹ in the body. Soon, brain cells die from the lack of blood. About one-hundred-fifty-thousand people die of strokes each year in the United States alone. Stroke is the third leading cause of death. Many more suffer permanent brain damage.

Blocked carotid arteries in the neck are a major cause of strokes. The traditional treatment is an operation. Doctors open and clean the arteries. Another treatment used in some countries now is the Cordis Carotid Stent. Doctors use a small device that holds the artery² open.

Patients can stay awake while doctors place the carotid stent inside an artery. They also can recover faster than from the traditional surgery. Stents have similar use for heart patients.

In Washington, the Food and Drug Administration had a committee of experts consider the carotid stent for use in the United States. In April, the committee advised the F.D.A. to approve the system, with some conditions. The system would be meant for high-risk patients. These are people whose age or health makes the traditional operation too dangerous.

The vote was close. Six of the experts supported the approval. Five opposed it. The agency will now consider a final decision.

To use the stent, doctors make a small cut between the stomach and the top of the leg. They place a small tube called a catheter into the carotid artery. Then they pass the catheter up to the neck. At the end of the catheter is the stent.

The doctors expand the stent to enlarge and clean the carotid artery. Another device protects the brain from any plaque³ material loosened by the cleaning process. The doctors then remove the catheter. But the stent remains⁴ in place to hold the artery open.

Doctor Jay Yadav (YA-dav) of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio led a study to compare the stent to the traditional operation. A division of the Cordis Corporation that makes the system paid for the study. Three-hundred-ten people were treated. About half of them had the traditional operation. The others received stents.

Doctor Yadav said that after one year, the stent patients did as well, and in many ways better, than those who had the operation.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Jerilyn Watson.

1 arteries   

n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is the place where the three main arteries of West London traffic met. 这就是伦敦西部三条主要交通干线的交汇处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 artery   

n.干线，要道；动脉

参考例句：

• We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.我们无法感觉到动脉血管内血压的变化。
• The aorta is the largest artery in the body.主动脉是人体中的最大动脉。

3 plaque   

n.饰板，匾，(医)血小板

参考例句：

• There is a commemorative plaque to the artist in the village hall.村公所里有一块纪念该艺术家的牌匾。
• Some Latin words were engraved on the plaque. 牌匾上刻着些拉丁文。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。