Angioplasty

Minimally Invasive Heart Treatment

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) interventional cardiologists offer you the latest in minimally invasive treatments for blocked arteries, including angioplasty.

What is Angioplasty?

An angioplasty is a procedure that opens up blocked or narrowed coronary arteries. Other names for this procedure include percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and revascularization. 

Angioplasty offers you a number of benefits: 

• Can improve blood flow to your heart 
• Can relieve chest pain 
• May help prevent a heart attack 

You may benefit from angioplasty if you have a severe blockage in one or more arteries. If you have a completely blocked artery, your care team may recommend chronic total occlusion (CTO) therapy. 

Emergency Angioplasty Care 

The BIDMC CardioVascular Institute’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory offers elective angioplasty — such as stenting — as well as 24/7 emergency care with angioplasty. Our team provides around-the-clock primary percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). This is a common procedure to reopen clogged or damaged coronary arteries. 

Time-to-treatment is the most important factor to ensure the best possible results after heart attack. Our doctors routinely perform PTCAs within 90 minutes or less from notification of a heart attack to opening the artery. Our results are among the best in the country for achieving that goal.  

In conjunction with the MedFlight medical helicopter service and ground transport, our colleagues achieve similar times for those from community hospitals in Boston and within the Route 495 loop. 

How is Angioplasty Done? 

We perform angioplasty in the hospital. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours. You’ll receive local anesthesia to numb the area of the groin where the doctor inserts the catheter.  

During angioplasty, the doctor threads a thin tube with a balloon on the end through a blood vessel to the narrowed or blocked coronary artery. Once in place, the doctor inflates the balloon to move plaque blocking your artery against the artery wall. This widens the artery and restores the flow of blood. 

The doctor may permanently place a thin, wire mesh tube (called a stent) in the artery to keep it open. Some stents have a coating of medication to help keep the artery open. 

Afterward, you must remain in bed for at least another six hours. You may be able to go home the same day, but more likely you’ll need to spend the night in the hospital.