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Angioplasty is used to open
blood vessels in your heart
that are clogged by too much
cholesterol and other deposits.
IF YOU HAVE
an artery in your heart that is partially
blocked, your doctor may suggest angioplasty. It’s a
procedure that eases pain and saves lives. More than a
million angioplasties are done each year in the U.S.
If your doctor says you need angioplasty, be sure to
ask how you should prepare for the procedure. A er an-
gioplasty, most people are back at work within a week.
Medications and lifestyle changes can help maintain the
results.
ALL CLEAR
Angioplasty is used to open blood vessels
in your heart that are clogged by too much cholesterol
and other deposits. e goal is to get more blood owing
to your heart.
Angioplasty is performed through a small incision in
your arm or groin. Your doctor will insert a thin tube,
called a catheter, through the incision into an artery. e
catheter is threaded through the artery until it reaches
the blockage. A special dye and x-rays help guide the
catheter into place.
Once the narrowed spot in the artery is found,
another catheter (out tted with a small, de ated bal-
loon on its tip) is threaded through the blood vessel.
e balloon is in ated and de ated at the narrowed
spot. is pushes the deposits against the artery wall,
CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION
AN INSIDE JOB
WHILE YOUR SOUL MATE
can look into your eyes
and see what’s inside your heart, your doctor has to take a
less poetic approach. But even so, your doctor’s methods
are far from mundane.
“Thanks to the proper tools and specialized train-
ing, we can safely find and fix many heart problems
from the inside—with no chest incision required,” says
Harry Balian, MD, medical director of the Cardiac
Catheterization Lab at Glendale Adventist Medical
Center (GAMC).
Cardiac catheterization involves inserting a catheter—a
long, thin, exible tube—into a blood vessel in the up-
per thigh, neck or arm. From there, the tube is carefully
advanced to the heart, where a dye is released, allowing
images of the heart and blood vessels to showmore clearly
on real-time digital x-rays.
Cardiac catheterization can be used to conduct a num-
ber of tests and treatments—including spotting heart
defects, planning for surgery, evaluating heart-valve
function or nding infections.
“We can provide treatment to patients more e ectively
than ever before,” says Dr. Balian. “And by doing it with a
minimally invasive technique, our patients bene t from
faster recovery with much less pain.”
EMERGENCY—EVERY MINUTE COUNTS
Cardiac
catheterization is also o en used in emergency situ-
ations, such as diagnosing and treating chest pain—a
symptom of coronary heart disease that occurs when
blood vessels feeding the heart become narrowed or
blocked.
“At GAMC, not only are we a Certi ed Chest Pain
Center, but Glendale Adventist heart specialists have
documented some of the fastest treatment times in the
area for patients entering the Emergency Department
needing cardiac catheterization,” Dr. Balian says. “With
an emergency heart condition, every minute counts.”
If a narrowed vessel is found, the catheter can be used
to perform an angioplasty (see article at le ).
If you are experiencing chest pain, the chest pain ex-
perts at GAMC encourage you to call
and seek medical
attention right away.
Angioplasty can work wonders:
It can make people with clogged
arteries feel a whole lot better. But
there’s one thing the procedure
can’t do: It can’t cure heart disease.
That’s why, despite having had
angioplasty, you still need to act on
the risk factors that harmed your
heart in the first place.
Here are some suggestions from
the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute on how to do that:
If you smoke, quit. Cigarettes
affect every blood vessel and organ
in the body—including the heart.
Medicines and other aids can help
you quit.
Exercise regularly. How much
and what kind of physical activity is
safe for you depends on your health.
Most adults should aim for at least
150 minutes of moderate-intensity
exercise a week.
Maintain a healthy weight. If you
are overweight, dropping just 5 to
10 percent of your weight lightens
your heart’s work load.
Follow a heart-healthy diet. This
involves limiting salt, sugar and un-
healthy fats found in meats, baked
goods, and deep-fried or processed
foods. It also means eating more
healthy fats, such as those in olive
oil and fish, along with more fruits,
vegetables, fiber and whole grains.
Talk to your doctor about joining
a cardiac rehab program. It can help
you make the lifestyle changes nec-
essary to have a healthy heart.
If you need a catheterization
procedure, the caring professionals in
the GAMC Cath Lab are here to help.
opening up space for the blood to ow.
Your doctor may insert a stent too. Stents are small
mesh tubes that stay permanently in the artery to help
prop it open. Some stents are coated with medicine,
which helps prevent the artery from becoming blocked
again, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute.
AFTER IT’S OVER
You must lie still for a few hours
a er angioplasty is done. is will allow the blood vessel
in your arm or groin to seal completely. e place where
the catheters were inserted may feel sore or tender for
about a week. You’ll spend the night in the hospital and
will most likely go home the next day.
To learn more about angioplasty and other
cardiology services at Glendale Adventist Medi-
cal Center’s Heart & Vascular Institute, go to
GlendaleAdventist.com/heart
.
ANGIOPLASTY
A SAFE AND EFFECTIVE WAY
TO OPEN BLOCKED ARTERIES
Lifestyle changes still needed after angioplasty
Catheter is threaded
through artery
Plaque
Catheter
with
balloon
pushed
through
Balloon
inflated
Blood flow
increased
Stent, if
used, left
in place
Artery
Normal
blood
flow
Restricted
blood flow
can lead to
angina and
heart attack
Heart
Clearing a blocked artery with angioplasty
Coffey infographic with information from the National Institutes of Health and the Society for Vascular Surgeons
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Web
Special thanks to Pau Chiu, MD, and the
Emergency Department staff as well as Sanjay
Sharma, MD, and the GAMC Cardiac Catheter-
ization staff for working together to help treat
our cardiac patients in record time. Recently,
they achieved the fastest-known door-to-balloon
time in the area: 23 minutes.
Door-to-balloon time is the time that spans
a patient’s arrival at the Emergency Depart-
ment to when his or her cardiac catheterization
starts in the cath lab.
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