Date of Award

Spring 2024

Degree Type

Thesis

Department

Public Health

Director of Thesis

Dr. Tarek Shazly

Second Reader

Dr. Camilla Wenceslau

Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is an epidemic in the United States and around the world, with millions falling victim to CAD and other forms of heart disease annually. There are both many causes and many treatments to these aforementioned heart diseases. Some of these causes and comorbidities include the usual suspects: obesity, diabetes and smoking. However, the component I am more interested in is the multitude of different procedures and technologies that can serve to treat cases of CAD.

The inspiration for choosing the topic of CAD treatment for my senior thesis derives from my interest in the field of cardiology. As a boy, I was always drawn to science and have known I wanted to pursue medicine for almost a decade. However, since receiving a university level education on the heart, I have been fascinated by it. I am not sure if it is due to its importance in the body or its intimately complex nature, but I am sure that it captivated my interest. I am currently participating in research concerning cell pathology of the heart, and have shadowed in multiple different cardiology clinics purely off of my interest of the organ. Therefore, I naturally found the most deadly disease of the most intriguing organ a worthy thesis topic.

Specifically, this thesis examines the various iterations of modern percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) as a treatment for CAD. I chose this specific treatment option because it is the most common, but also because of my exposure to interventional cardiologists shadowing catheter labs last summer. PCI as a treatment procedure has evolved many times since its creation, and has recently experienced rapid development due to new technology and medicine. This thesis ultimately aims to compare the overall clinical efficacy of two of these technologies: bare-metal stents and drug-eluting stents. Within this thesis is a quantitative analysis on several short-term and long-term health outcomes associated with PCI such as myocardial infarction, restenosis and target lesion revascularization. The goal of this thesis is to conduct a sweeping review of existing literature to test the validity of my hypothesis that everolimus is the best and safest PCI option for CAD patients. I hope my analysis will provide some level of clarity to the ambiguous issue of PCI stenting, which can in turn help the public health problem of CAD to some degree. I have learned an incredible amount about the field of cardiology through my research, and wish to use this knowledge in medical school and into my career.

First Page

1

Last Page

27

Rights

© 2024, Ryan Hill

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