Coronary Angioplasty Procedure

Angioplasty generally refers to a procedure of interventional cardiology in which a balloon and/or a bare metal stent (also called a scaffold) is inserted via catheter to treat the blocked arteries of patients suffering from cardiovascular disease.

Angioplasty was first performed in 1977 by Dr. Andreas Gruentzig, whose commitment to "treat the patient, not the lesion" led to the development of an entirely new branch of medicine through which treatment for a variety of diseases became possible without the need for surgery.

Gruentzig's first efforts used balloons, which were inflated once placed into a patient's artery to restore proper blood flow to the heart. His procedure was improved upon in the 1980s with the introduction of self-expanding metal scaffolds, or stents, which solved the problem of some artery walls that weakened and collapsed after balloon inflation. During this period balloon expandable metal stents were also introduced and became standard practice by the 1990s.

In the past two decades angioplasty techniques and materials have evolved to combat the problem of restenosis, the body's natural reaction to the controlled injury of angioplasty, in which arteries produce smooth muscle cells, similar to the formation of scar tissue, that can create re-blocking of the treated artery. Today interventional cardiologists are finding great promise in devices sometimes referred to as "coated" or "medicated" stents. These drug-eluting stents are normal metal stents that are coated with drugs known to interfere with the process of restenosis (reblocking).

Angioplasty is one of the most commonly performed medical procedures worldwide, with more than half a million stents placed in patients' clogged arteries annually in the United States alone.