Carbon Monoxide From Smoking Helps Keep Arteries Open Following Angioplasty

In an unusual paradox, smoking cigarettes-a deadly habit that contributes to the development of peripheral artery disease-actually helps arteries stay open following a procedure to repair clogged blood vessels in the legs, according to a study in the June issue of Radiology. The study found that habitual to heavy smokers who continued to smoke after angioplasty had a lower rate of restenosis, or re-narrowing of the arteries, than nonsmokers. As expected, the researchers who conducted the study at the University of Vienna, Austria, do not advocate smoking. But the findings suggest that increasing the level of carbon monoxide in the blood stream following angioplasty and stent placement within the lower limb arteries may help prevent restenosis.

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