When your heart’s arteries become blocked or narrowed from cholesterol or plaque, angioplasty can help.
During this minor procedure, we insert a thin tube (catheter) into a blood vessel in your arm, groin, or neck and extend it to your heart (as in a routine cardiac catheterization). Then, we inflate a very small balloon in the artery in order to open it and restore blood flow.
In some cases, immediately following the angioplasty we place a small, metal mesh tube (a stent) inside your coronary artery. The stent prevents the artery from closing again.