At Empoli Hospital, in the province of Florence, an urgent coronary angiography and angioplasty with placement of a stent in the circumflex artery was performed in a 101-year-old female patient who had experienced intense pain in the chest and on the electrocardiogram, performed at home by an emergency medical doctor, showed clear signs of acute myocardial infarction. The surgery was successfully performed by Benedetta Bellandi of the Cardiology department directed by Attilio Del Rosso.
The procedure led to the immediate restoration of circulation to the lateral wall of the left ventricle, the medics said. The course was uneventful and the patient was discharged after 8 days of hospitalization in the cardiological department. She has always been alert and at the follow-up visit, performed one month after the operation, she appeared in good general condition.
“Emergency coronary angioplasty (primary angioplasty) is currently the immediate therapy of first choice in acute myocardial infarction and is particularly safe and effective especially in elderly patients. Even at 100 years of age, where the general psychophysical conditions of the patient are adequate , the procedure can be performed with immediate success, Del Rosso points out.