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Angioplasty: Clearing Coronary Arteries
for 30 Years
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Improving Safety, Efficacy
Angioplasty:
Clearing Coronary Arteries for 30 Years
About 13 million people in the
United States have coronary
artery disease (CAD), and more
than half a million people die from it
each year. Angioplasty has reduced the
risk of death for some of these patients
for 30 years.
The first angioplasty (also called
percutaneous coronary intervention
or PCI) was performed in 1977 as an
alternative to open-heart bypass surgery.
Now the procedure accounts for more
than half of the treatments for CAD.
More than 1 million people in the United
States have the procedure annually,
making it one of the most common
medical techniques in the world.
"Unfortunately there are millions of
people who have coronary artery
disease," says B. Keith Ellis, M.D., a
cardiologist on staff at Methodist Sugar
Land Hospital. "Fortunately, we have
treatments to help them continue living
an active and
normal life."
How Can Angioplasty Help?
If you are diagnosed with CAD, one or
more coronary arteries are narrowed or
blocked due to atherosclerosis (plaque
buildup inside the artery walls). CAD
restricts coronary arteries from supplying
the heart with adequate oxygen
and puts you at risk for a heart attack.
If your cardiologist suspects a blockage,
she or he will do an angiogram, a test
that uses special dye and X-rays to
locate the diseased area. Then she or
he will clear the artery by threading a
catheter (a tiny tube) with a balloon
attached to the end through a blood
vessel in your arm or groin toward your
heart. When the catheter reaches the
narrowed area, the doctor inflates the
balloon, pushing plaque outward and
widening the artery so that blood flows
more freely to your heart.
Technology continues to improve
safety and efficacy of angioplasty. The
added use of stents helps to maintain
normal blood flow. Angioplasty and
stent placement can be completed in
about 30 minutes (depending on the
number of affected arteries) minimizing
damage to the heart muscle. Stents
are tiny metal structures that open
when the balloon inflates and remain
in the artery, scaffolding it open after
the balloon is deflated and removed.
Angioplasty is usually done in a
hospital's cardiac catheterization
laboratory – sometimes in an emergency
situation as a response to a heart
attack. In most cases, angioplasty
requires only local anesthesia, reducing
the risk of anesthesia complications
related to open-heart surgery.
Some CAD patients choose angioplasty
as treatment to reduce angina (chest
pain), shortness of breath and to reduce
long-range damage to heart muscle when
lifestyle changes and medications have
been unsuccessful.
Is Angioplasty Right For You?
If you have been diagnosed with coronary
artery disease or wonder if you are
at risk, consult with your primary care
doctor or cardiologist for an evaluation.
To learn more about the procedure,
visit www.methodistsugarland.com and click on Health Library at the top
of the page.
The most common symptom of CAD is
chest pain; however, your first sign of CAD
could be a heart attack. That's why it's
important to know the risk factors and talk
to your doctor about your personal risk of
CAD. Some risk factors are not modifiable,
such as age and family history. Men older
than 45 and women older than 55 have a
greater chance of developing CAD, as
do those with a family history of early
heart disease.
Other risk factors are modifiable:
- High blood cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Cigarette smoking
- Diabetes
- Overweight or obesity
- Lack of physical activity
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