Commercial airline pilot Andrew Scontras had a heart attack in July and within weeks found out there was another constricted blood vessel endangering his life.

Doctors at the Queen’s Medical Center offered the 63-year-old a new procedure: the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved dissolving heart stent, a tube placed in the coronary arteries to allow blood flow to the heart.

Scontras last week became one of the state’s first patients with coronary artery disease to get the implant, which dissolves in about three years, potentially eliminating the risk of future blood clots in the area.

“Turned out it was a good fit,” said Scontras, who had the minimally invasive heart surgery through an artery in his wrist. “I feel great. It just boggles my mind that this technology exists. It’s kind of like going to the dentist. I was ready to get up and run out pretty much right after I got out of the procedure. It’s really miraculous.”

The dissolvable stent made entirely out of protein opens clogged arteries to restore blood flow similar to traditional metal stents but then is gradually absorbed by the body. Only two pairs of tiny metallic markers remain in the artery to mark where the device was placed.

That means the unclogged artery might heal better and regain its natural movement. The absence of a metal stent also makes it easier to see imaging scans of the heart and for patients to undergo future surgeries. In addition, patients potentially wouldn’t need to use blood-clotting medicines once the stent disappears.

The implant has the potential to replace metal stents that remain in the body permanently, said Dr. Ramy Badawi, an interventional cardiologist at Queen’s.

“I don’t think it’s developed enough, but future generations of these could replace what we have now,” he said. “I think there could be a paradigm shift.”

Queen’s currently does about 600 outpatient stent procedures a year. The cost of metal stents ranges from $1,000 to $1,500, with the price tag for dissolvable stents about 10 percent higher, Badawi said.

“These stents are thicker and represent a new generation of stents, with 200,000 or more patients implanted with them across the world,” he said.

Queen’s said the dissolvable stent is a significant breakthrough in the treatment of coronary artery disease, which affects 15 million people in the United States and is a leading cause of death worldwide.