Angioplasty
If you have heart disease, you may need a procedure called angioplasty. This is a treatment to open narrowed or blocked blood vessels that supply blood to your heart. It is also known as PCI i.e. the percutaneous-coronary-intervention. During angioplasty, a long, thin tube called a catheter is inserted into a blood vessel in your arm, leg, or neck. The catheter is then threaded through the blood vessel to the blocked artery. At the catheter’s tip, a balloon is inflated. The balloon expands and flattens the plaque against the artery wall. This works up towards widening the artery or arteries and thus helps to improve the flow of blood towards the patient’s heart.
More about Angioplasty
In some specific conditions, the need might be there to place a small wire-mesh-tube (stent) in the artery, which helps to keep that section open. Angioplasty is a minimally invasive procedure. It is usually done in a hospital interventional radiology or cardiac catheterization lab. You will be awake during the procedure. Angioplasty usually takes one to two hours. As a patient, you might need to stay in the medical center for 1 night. You may need to take blood-thinning medication for a few days after the procedure. Angioplasty is a common and safe procedure.
Complications
The patient is usually given medicine for relaxation. You may feel a brief period of discomfort when the catheter is inserted. You may also feel pressure when the balloon is inflated. Complications are rare. They may include bleeding, bruising, or infection at the insertion site. There is also a small risk of damaging the artery or causing a heart attack. If you have heart disease, talk to your doctor about whether this will be the right procedure for your case!
Stents
Doctors use a stent to treat coronary artery disease. It happens to be a small, metal mesh tube. The treating doctor places it in the artery during angioplasty to help keep it open. Once the balloon is inflated, a stent is placed in the artery. The stent helps support the artery and keeps it open.
Why Is Angioplasty Needed?
Doctors perform this procedure to restore normal blood flow in the coronary arteries when the narrowed artery or arteries happen to be in a place, which they can reach in this way. Doctors cannot treat all CADs i.e. coronary artery diseases can with this procedure. Your treating doctor will only decide the best treatment for your condition and whether or not you need angioplasty in your type of coronary artery disease, and this diagnosis will be based upon your specific medical condition and your physical circumstances.
Contact Dr. Arun
When it comes to perfect heart health, Angioplasty happens to be one of the most important procedures out there. Dr. Arun is one of the best interventional cardiologists in town. He has helped countless patients receive the treatments they needed specific to their heart conditions. He also guides them about recovering from an angioplasty procedure. Contact him today to see if Angioplasty is the right procedure for your condition, and if so, avail the best treatment by getting into the safest hands of Dr. Arun.
