Angioplasty is a type of surgery to reopen clogged arteries. It can be performed when someone is in immediate danger of permanent heart damage following a heart attack, or when people are experiencing pain from CAD-related symptoms but are not in imminent danger. In an angioplasty, the patient is numbed with a local anaesthetic, laid flat on a table and has a balloon catheter(seen above) inserted into one of their arteries, usually in the groin but occasionally in the arm. With the assistance of an x-ray, the surgeon snakes the catheter into the blocked artery. The surgeon then inflates the balloon to stretch out the offending artery before removing it again. The process can take anywhere between thirty minutes to several hours, depending on whether there are multiple blockages or not.
A (collapsed) stent is snaked into the blocked artery with a balloon catheter, which inflates the stent in situ and is withdrawn, leaving the opened stent in place. Some stents are coated with anticoagulant medicine to prevent clotting at the site of the stent. These are called drug-eluting stents.
About 500,000 Americans have stents put in every year. However, the widespread use of stents is somewhat controversial: they are expensive(around $30,000), can have catastrophic effects if they malfunction, and one study found that 1 in 10 of all stent surgeries were "unnecessary", and another 3 out of 10 were of "questionable" need. In these cases, the benefit was negligible, and the same benefits could be found through medication.
There are other procedures, including:
Rotoablation: Objectively speaking, the weirdest and coolest of angioplasty measures: an acorn-shaped, diamond-tipped drill is snaked into the arteries and is spun at a very high speed to grind away the plaque. It's not used often anymore because angioplasties and stents are much easier to operate.
Atherectomy: Another outdated procedure, this process inserted a catheter with a balloon and a blade in a chamber. When inflated, the balloon would press the spinning blade up to the edge of the chamber, and the blade would cut off any plaque that protruded into the chamber. The pieces would be collected and removed.
Cutting Balloon: Like the atherectomy procedure, the cutting balloon relies on balloons and blades. A balloon with a Y-shaped blade is inserted into the offending artery. When inflated, the blades spin and score the plaque, and the balloon squashes the smaller chunks down.
DRUGS
To those with CAD, there are a number of drugs available to ease their condition.These include:
Aspirin. Doctors may prescribe a daily dose of aspirin to patients with coronary artery disease. Aspirin helps prevent blood clotting, thus preventing some potential problems in plaque-covered arteries.
Beta blockers: Problems related to CAD like hypertension and obesity force the heart to work harder and pump more blood through constricted arteries.This issue can be partially dealt with by taking beta blocker drugs, which relax and slow the heart and heart, making their job easier. ACE inhibitors and ARB receptor blockers have similar effects.
Nitroglycerin helps dilate the veins and also the arteries, depending on the dosage. However, overuse can lead users to develop a tolerance to it, causing the body to ignore the effects, . It is one of the first drugs administered to someone suffering from a heart attack
In about one third of angioplasties, arteries seal back up to pre-operation levels. Because this, balloon catheters in conjunction with stents are common.
A stent is a mesh tube permanently placed into a coronary artery to prop it open if it has become blocked .
A (collapsed) stent is snaked into the blocked artery with a balloon catheter, which inflates the stent in situ and is withdrawn, leaving the opened stent in place. Some stents are coated with anticoagulant medicine to prevent clotting at the site of the stent. These are called drug-eluting stents.About 500,000 Americans have stents put in every year. However, the widespread use of stents is somewhat controversial: they are expensive(around $30,000), can have catastrophic effects if they malfunction, and one study found that 1 in 10 of all stent surgeries were "unnecessary", and another 3 out of 10 were of "questionable" need. In these cases, the benefit was negligible, and the same benefits could be found through medication.
There are other procedures, including:
Rotoablation: Objectively speaking, the weirdest and coolest of angioplasty measures: an acorn-shaped, diamond-tipped drill is snaked into the arteries and is spun at a very high speed to grind away the plaque. It's not used often anymore because angioplasties and stents are much easier to operate.
Atherectomy: Another outdated procedure, this process inserted a catheter with a balloon and a blade in a chamber. When inflated, the balloon would press the spinning blade up to the edge of the chamber, and the blade would cut off any plaque that protruded into the chamber. The pieces would be collected and removed.
Cutting Balloon: Like the atherectomy procedure, the cutting balloon relies on balloons and blades. A balloon with a Y-shaped blade is inserted into the offending artery. When inflated, the blades spin and score the plaque, and the balloon squashes the smaller chunks down.
DRUGS
To those with CAD, there are a number of drugs available to ease their condition.These include:
Aspirin. Doctors may prescribe a daily dose of aspirin to patients with coronary artery disease. Aspirin helps prevent blood clotting, thus preventing some potential problems in plaque-covered arteries.
Beta blockers: Problems related to CAD like hypertension and obesity force the heart to work harder and pump more blood through constricted arteries.This issue can be partially dealt with by taking beta blocker drugs, which relax and slow the heart and heart, making their job easier. ACE inhibitors and ARB receptor blockers have similar effects.
Nitroglycerin helps dilate the veins and also the arteries, depending on the dosage. However, overuse can lead users to develop a tolerance to it, causing the body to ignore the effects, . It is one of the first drugs administered to someone suffering from a heart attack
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