Coronary angioplasty is a procedure which used to open up the clogged and blocked heart arteries. Angioplasty uses a tiny balloon catheter that is inserted in a blocked blood vessel to help widen it and enhance the blood flow to heart. It is often done with the placement of a small wire mesh tube called a stent. The stent helps prop the artery open, reducing the risk of narrowing again. Most stents are coated with medication to help keep the artery open. Angioplasty can remove the signs and symptoms of blocked arteries, such as chest pain and shortness of breath. Angioplasty is often used during a heart attack to quickly open a blocked artery and reduce the amount of damage to the heart.
Why to perform it?
Angioplasty is used to treat the build-up of fatty plaques in the heart's blood vessels. This build up is a type of heart disease known as atherosclerosis. Depending on the extent of your heart disease and your overall health condition, heart specialist doctor in Jaipur will whether angioplasty should be done or not.
Preparation required
Before a scheduled angioplasty, a heart specialist will review your medical history and perform a physical examination. You might need to have some tests, including a chest X-ray, electrocardiogram and blood tests, before the procedure. The doctor will perform an imaging test called a coronary angiogram to see if the arteries to your heart are blocked and if they can be treated with angioplasty.
If the heart specialist doctor in Jaipur finds a blockage during your coronary angiogram, he might decide to perform angioplasty and stenting immediately after the angiogram while your heart is still catheterized.
You might feel pressure in the area where the catheter is inserted. You might also feel a mild discomfort when the balloon is inflated and your artery is stretched, but one shouldn't feel any sharp pain during the procedure.
Stent placement
Most individuals who have angioplasty also have a stent placed in their blocked artery during the same procedure. A stent, which looks like a tiny coil of wire mesh, supports the walls of your artery and helps prevent it from re-narrowing after angioplasty.
Procedure of Stent Placement:
· The stent, which is collapsed around a balloon at the tip of the catheter, is guided through the artery to the blockage.
· At the blockage, the balloon is inflated and the spring-like stent expands and locks into place inside the artery.
· The stent stays in the artery permanently to hold it open and improve blood flow to your heart. In some cases, more than one stent may be needed to open a blockage.
· X-ray images (angiograms) are taken to see how well blood flows through your newly widened artery.
Most stents implanted during an angioplasty are drug coated. The medication in the stent is slowly released to help prevent future plaque build-up and the re-narrowing of the blood vessel.
Outcome:
Coronary angioplasty performed by the heart specialist doctor in Jaipur greatly enhances blood flow through the previously narrowed or blocked coronary artery. Chest pain generally decreases. One may be better able to exercise.
