Angioplasty and Vascular Stenting
What is Angioplasty and Vascular Stenting?
(excerpted from www.radiologyinfo.org)
Angioplasty and angioplasty with vascular stenting are minimally invasive procedures performed to improve blood flow in the body's arteries.
During angioplasty, imaging techniques are used to guide a balloon-tipped catheter, a long, thin plastic tube, into an artery and advance it to where the vessel is narrow or blocked. The balloon is then inflated to open the vessel, deflated and removed.
In vascular stenting, which is often performed with angioplasty, a small wire mesh tube called a stent is permanently placed in the newly opened artery to help it remain open.
FRC's interventional radiologists use these procedures to treat conditions that involve a narrowing or blockage of arteries throughout the body, including:
- narrowing of large body arteries (aorta and its branches) due to artherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, a gradual process in which cholesterol and other fatty deposits, called plaques, build up on artery walls.
- peripheral vascular disease (PVD) and peripheral artery disease (PAD), a narrowing of the arteries in the legs or arms. In patients with PVD or PAD, angioplasty alone or angioplasty with stenting may be used to open up a blocked artery in the pelvis, leg or arm.
- renal vascular hypertension, high blood pressure caused by a narrowing of the kidney arteries. Angioplasty with stenting is a commonly preferred method to open one or both of the arteries that supply blood to the kidneys. Treating renal arterial narrowing is also needed in some patients to protect or improve the renal function.
- carotid artery disease, a narrowing of the neck arteries supplying blood to the brain.
- narrowing in dialysis fistula or grafts. It is very common to see narrowing involving the dialysis fistula or graft. When there is decreased flow in the graft or fistula that is not adequate for dialysis, angioplasty is generally the first line of treatment. Stenting is also needed in some cases.
Learn more about our interventional radiologists
Other Vascular Services / Conditions
- Diagnostic Vascular Imaging
- Peripheral Arterial Disease
- Angioplasty and Vascular Stenting (for carotid, renal, mesenteric and peripheral arteries)
- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA)
- Uterine Fibroids / Uterine Fibroid Embolization (UFE)
- Deep Vein Thrombosis
- Varicose Veins
- Treatment of vertebral compression fractures resulting from osteoporosis or other disease
- Minimally invasive cancer therapy for liver, kidney, bone and lung tumors
- Central Venous Access Catheters and Filters
For more information on these as well as other interventional radiology procedures, please visit www.sirweb.org/patients/
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