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Interventional Cardiology Procedures

Catheter-Based Procedures

• Cardiac Catheterization/Angiogram
  A heart catheterization, also known as an angiogram, looks inside the arteries that feed your heart muscle. If it is discovered that you have coronary artery disease or peripheral artery disease, angioplasty/stenting may be indicated.
  • Read more about heart catheterizations.
  • Making the decision about cardiac catheterization/angiogram

• Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA)
  Coronary angioplasty is used to open one or more clogged or narrowed arteries in your heart.  Just as a catheter is used to visualize your arteries, a small balloon tipped catheter may be floated up to the blocked area in the coronary artery and inflated to flatten the plaque against the artery wall so that more blood can reach the heart muscle. The goal of angioplasty is the restoration of adequate blood flow (revascularization) through the affected part of the body.
  • Read more about angioplasty.
    

Stenting

• Coronary Stent Placement
  A coronary stent is a small, slotted round tube made of medical-grade stainless steel designed to support the wall of the coronary artery. This is used to prevent re-narrowing (restenosis) of the area. The stent is placed over a balloon catheter, passed through the blockage and expanded to stay inside the artery.

A drug-eluting stent allows for the release of a particular drug at the stent implantation site.  This drug limits the overgrowth of normal tissue as the healing process occurs.  Studies have shown that this process significantly lowers the incidence of repeat procedures.

• Read more about drug-eluting stents.
  

See the steps involved in angioplasty with stenting:

• Blockage is present in a coronary artery .
• Step 1: The cardiologist guides the catheter to the area of blockage .
• Step 2: The balloon at the end of the catheter inflates .
• Step 3: The balloon deflates, leaving the stent in place .
• Blood flow to the affected area of the heart improves .

• Peripheral Artery Angioplasty/Stent Placement
  Peripheral artery disease (PAD) interferes with one's lifestyle by decreasing walking ability and affecting overall health. Left untreated, PAD increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, amputation and death. Placement of a stent to the affected vessel is a less invasive way to improve flow to the affected extremity.
  • Read more about angioplasty for PAD.

• Carotid Artery Stenting
  Carotid stenting involves using a specially designed guide wire with a filter and placing it beyond the area of narrowing in the carotid artery. Once in place, a small balloon is inflated for a few seconds to dilate the artery. Then, the stent (a small titanium mesh tube that acts as a scaffold to provide support inside your artery) is placed in the artery and opens to fit the size of the artery. The filter is used to capture any particles that are released and prevent them from going to the brain and causing a stroke. A second balloon inflation is done to make sure the stent is completely expanded in your carotid artery. The stent stays in place permanently. After several weeks, your artery heals around the stent.

  • Read more about carotid artery stenting.

• Renal (Kidney) Angioplasty/Stent Placement
  A renal angioplasty is a way of relieving a blockage in the renal artery, the main blood vessel to the kidney, without having an operation. A fine plastic tube, called a catheter, is inserted through a blockage in an artery, and a special balloon on the catheter is then inflated, to open up the blockage and allow more blood to flow through it. Kidney arteries often require the insertion of a tiny hollow tube called a stent to keep it open after the procedure.
  

• Iliac and femoral (leg) artery angioplasty/stent placement
  An iliac and femoral artery angioplasty is a way of relieving a blockage in the leg arteries without having an operation. A fine plastic tube, called a catheter, is inserted through a blockage in an artery, and a special balloon on the catheter is then inflated, to open up the blockage and allow more blood to flow through it. Iliac and femoral arteries often require the insertion of a tiny hollow tube called a stent to keep it open after the procedure.
  

Intracoronary Diagnostics

• Intravascular Ultrasound
  For many years the only way of directly viewing the coronary arteries was through angiography, or catheterization. With the invention and refinement of intravascular coronary ultrasound (IVUS), it is now possible to thread a tiny ultrasound "camera" into the coronary arteries to give a cross-sectional view from the inside-out, showing the physician where the normal artery wall ends and the plaque begins.

• Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) measurements
  Fractional Flow Reserve indicates to what degree coronary blockages impair blood flow to heart muscle and determines what extent blood flow to the heart muscle can be increased by coronary intervention.