Cardiologists at Sharp Memorial Hospital are involved in a clinical trial of a new treatment for heart disease.
Doctors are testing out a stent that dissolves in the body.
Stents are small metallic tubes that doctors use to restore blood flow in a blocked artery.
The clinical trial at Sharp Memorial is evaluating whether a dissolvable stent made out of mesh provides better outcomes over time.
Sharp cardiologist Raghava Gollapudi, one of the trial's investigators, said there are some concerns about metallic stents.
"Since it's a foreign body that's left over inside the artery, we're always worried 'Will a blood clot form on this foreign body three, four, five years later if we don't keep them on blood thinners?'" Dr. Gollapudi said.
About 600,000 patients get a heart stent put in each year in the United States. Studies suggest not all of the procedures are necessary.
