Mayfield resident Jesse Jones recently made heart history at Western Baptist Hospital. The 74-year-old cardiac patient was the first in the region to receive a Cypher™ Sirolimus-eluting Stent, the first drug-eluting stent to receive Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the treatment of blocked arteries.

According to Dr. J. Kenneth Ford with the Heart Group, the new drug-eluting stent greatly reduces the restenosis rate typically seen with traditional stents.

“This new stent is coated with the drug sirolimus, which is slowly released into the vessel lining to prevent scar tissue growth through the openings in the stent mesh, the most frequent cause of restenosis,” explains Dr. Ford.

Dr. Ford says that this important cardiac breakthrough greatly reduces the risk of retreatment and potentially spares patients the anxiety, pain, and longer recovery of bypass surgery.

Of the more than 1,500 cath labs in the United States, only 1 to 2 percent were among the first to receive the newly approved drug-eluting stents. Western Baptist and its sister hospital, Central Baptist in Lexington, were part of this distinguished group.