Services

Cardiac Services
Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (angioplasty)

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is also referred to as angioplasty or cardiac catheterization and includes a variety of procedures used to treat patients with diseased arteries of the heart, such as:

• Chest pain caused by a build-up of fats, cholesterol, and other substances from the blood (referred to as plaque) that can reduce blood flow to a near trickle
• A heart attack caused by a large blood clot that completely blocks the artery

Percutaneous coronary intervention is a non-surgical treatment for blocked or narrowed passages in one or more of the coronary arteries and can be done in several ways, including:

Balloon angioplasty

Performed by threading a catheter (thin tube) with a balloon on the end through the groin or wrist into the narrowed artery. The balloon is then inflated at high pressure one or more times, depending on the severity of the narrowing or blockage, to widen the artery and allow blood to flow more easily through it.

Bare metal stent implantation

A balloon catheter is used to move a thin metal scaffolding (a stent) into a narrowed coronary artery. The balloon catheter is inflated, which expands the stent to support the arterial wall and keep it dilated. The stent remains in the artery permanently and is effective at preventing re-narrowing of the artery. Over the following weeks, cells form a natural covering that will hold the stent firmly in place. Because the stent is a foreign object in the coronary artery, patients should receive a stent card that describes the type, date and location of the stent. No metal detectors will be set off due to stent implantation.

Drug-eluting stents

A more recent option in angioplasty, slowly releasing drugs that help prevent scar tissue from forming inside the stent during the healing process. Older stents sometimes caused new blockages to form and a return of symptoms, which often required another stenting procedure.

The following physicians perform these procedures: