What Is a Coronary Angioplasty Surgery?

Coronary angioplasty surgery or per-cutaneous coronary interventions are surgeries to open up blocked heart blood vessels.

Although the heart is filled with blood 24 hours a day it only picks up its oxygen supply from a tiny cluster of vessels called as the coronary group of vessels. A high fat diet and no exercise, causes these tiny vessels to get clogged with fat. As a result, oxygen supply to the heart decreases. Continued blockages may cause the heart to stop working completely, resulting in a heart attack. For mild blockages, doctors usually recommend a lifestyle change, followed by cholesterol lowering drugs. Coronary angioplasty surgery becomes necessary to clear the blocked vessels for patients, who have already had a heart attack with gradually worsening symptoms.

Patients are admitted 24 hours before, in to the hospital. You will also have to stop certain medications like blood thinners, diabetes tablets, and nitroglycerines which may interfere with the procedure. A cardiologist with a special team of cardiovascular nurses will carry out the coronary angioplasty surgery in a cardiac catheterization laboratory. There is a mild risk of cardiac complications during the procedure. It’s necessary to do coronary angioplasty surgery in a hospital with surgical facilities to deal with any complications which arise. The procedure may take any where from 30 minutes to several hours to complete and a 3-4 days hospital stay is required.