|
Home + Health
Topics with A + Angioplasty
Angioplasty
If you have coronary artery disease,
the arteries in your heart are narrowed or blocked by
a sticky material known as plaque.
Angioplasty is a method to restore blood flow through
the artery.
The doctor threads a thin tube through
a blood vessel in the arm or groin up to the caught
up site in the artery. The tube has a minute
balloon on the end. When the tube is in place,
the doctor inflates the balloon to push the plaque outward
against the wall of the artery. This broadens the artery
and restores blood flow.
Doctors may use angioplasty to
- lessen chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart
- diminish damage to heart muscle from a heart attack
Every year more than a million people in the United States
have coronary angioplasty.
|
