What is Coronary Angioplasty?
2,269 viewsCoronary arteries are the vessels responsible for blood supply, oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle. When the coronary arteries have blockage by fatty plaque there is a difficulty in the passage of blood, which can cause chest pain (angina pectoris) and / or acute myocardial infarction. Angioplasty is a technique performed in order to clear one or more arteries of the heart. For this we use a balloon catheter (catheter with a tiny balloon at the end) that reaches the point of stenosis of the coronary artery and through its inflation can unclog the toilet, facilitating or normalizing blood flow there.
Another technique used in addition to the angioplasty balloon catheter is the implantation of a vascular stent, called a stent. This looks like a “metal spring” which is released at the site of coronary obstruction and helps to improve the results obtained with the catheter balloon. It should be remembered that angioplasty can be performed with or without stent implantation, leaving this decision to the doctor.