Smoking and restenosis poll

[Jugular]

I am curious as to whether smoking influences restenosis. Please take this poll only after you are at least 3 months post CCSVI treatment.

[Jugular]

Come on people, it's an anonymous poll. I'm not trying to smoke out the smokers. If smoking has no effect, I think it's pretty significant too

[DougL]

sorry, still waiting for the three months post procedure.

[CuriousRobot]

Curiosity is good.

[Nasti]

Smoking is not quite an issue for me, I smoke about 5-6 cigarettes a month, but drinking alcohol is awful after the one year course of anti-coagulants. I quit taking them 5 mos ago and I still experience very bad side effects even after 2 drinks of martini (12%). How much of it can be attributed to vein enlargement I cannot be sure...

[Jugular]

Surprising provisional results - non-smokers have a 50% restenosis rate after 3 months, smokers have zero. Anyone care to explain?

[Cece]

Internet polls are unreliable?

Smoking injures the endothelium in a way that makes it less likely to put up a healing response to the injury of ballooning?

Nonsmokers are more likely to take care of their health, so nonsmokers are more likely to have gone back for follow-up visits and learned that they restenosed?

ok, you could be onto something, Jugular:

Smoking 10 or more cigarettes daily is associated with a reduced rate of intermediate-term restenosis after lower-limb endovascular interventions.

http://radiology.rsna.org/content/231/3/831.full

Here is the researchers explanation for why smoking might have a beneficial effect, reducing restenosis. This is on lower limb venoplasty with or without stent placement.

Smokers typically have elevated levels of carboxyhemoglobin and higher blood concentrations of carbon monoxide (11,12). Carbon monoxide has potent antiinflammatory and antiproliferative capacity, and it inhibits vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation after vascular injury due to balloon dilation (13–16). Furthermore, cigarette smoke extract induces necrosis in proliferating vascular smooth muscle cells (17). Localized proliferationof vascular smooth muscle cells is a key factor in luminal diameter decrease after endovascular treatment (18). On the basis of these findings, we hypothesized that smoking may protect vessels from restenosis after lower-limb endovascular interventions, presumably through the antiproliferative effect of increased carbon monoxide levels.

But smoking is still terrible for MS, neurologically.

[dlynn]

I quit smoking approx. 25yrs. ago. I restenosed after the first and the second procedure. My veins remained open (thank God) after my third procedure which was in mid June.