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	Related conditions   - Cardiac arrest   - Atrial fibrillation   - Cardiomyopathy   - Heart attack   - Congestive heart failure   - Heart murmur   - Pericarditis   - High blood pressure   - Angina   - Aneurysm, aortic   - Arrhythmias

Angioplasty

Coronary angioplasty is a minimally invasive procedure to open blocked or narrowed arteries. It's important for arteries to remain clear so that oxygen-rich blood can flow freely to fuel the heart. Reduced blood flow stresses the heart muscle and causes symptoms like chest pain (angina) and pressure. Heart attack occurs when a coronary artery is severely or totally blocked.

During angioplasty, a thin flexible tube called a "catheter" is inserted into the clogged artery, usually through the groin/upper thigh artery, and threaded up to the heart. The procedure involves the use of balloons, lasers, drills, shavers or other devices attached to the catheter to remove cholesterol and other "fatty deposits" or plaque build-up on the artery walls. Once the artery is opened, the catheter and its attachments are removed.

In recent years, physicians have enhanced angioplasty with the addition of a permanent coronary stent - a scaffold-like tube made of wire mesh that adheres to the walls of the artery to keep it propped open. Stenting helped reduce the risk of restenosis or "re-narrowing" of the artery from scar tissue or new cholesterol deposits. This occurred over time in about 40% to 50% of patients. With stenting, the restenosis rate dropped to 20%. Researchers have continued to seek new ways to keep artery blockages from re-forming, including the use of the coated stent to prevent scar tissue and cholesterol from attaching to artery walls. Sometimes brachytherapy, which uses a radioactive material to treat restenosis, is employed to clear the artery again.

Learn more | See animation of this procedure

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