PCI Medical Procedures

Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, or PCI, is known by many other names. PCI has been called angioplasty. PCI is used for part of the treatment of coronary heart disease or a number of other heart related problems, like a narrowing of the arteries in the heart. There are a few common medical procedures that are used as options for treatment. In trying to understand your health problems, you are most likely trying to understand the possibilities that you have for treatment as well as what to expect when you are going to be undergoing one of these procedures.

Background

• According to the American Heart Association, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) is the type of treatment that is used to help relieve the shrinking or constricting of coronary arteries that is commonly found to be a result of some forms of coronary heart disease. Patients with diseased arteries are likely candidates for PCI medical procedures. The procedures that you may be a good candidate are determined by your cardiologist and are based on many different factors, like high cholesterol, fat build up, excessive plaque. These problems cause blockages in the arteries which restrict the flow of blood. Without these procedures, the instances of heart attacks increase.

Percutaneous Transluminal Angioplasty

• Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is one of the most common PCI medical procedures. PTCA can include stenting, but it can also be performed without stenting. According Merck, PTCA is performed through radial, femoral, or brachial artery puncturing. The particular artery is punctured to make it possible for a catheter to be inserted into the artery where it is guided into the target artery (the one with the blockage or restriction) with the aid of an intravascular ultrasonography or a fluoroscopy. On the end of the catheter, there is a tiny balloon that is inflated in the diseased artery to dilate, or stretch, the artery so that the damage can be disrupted.

Stenting

• Stenting is a PCI medical procedure that is used for larger arteries that are damaged when PTCA has not been performed. It is commonly chosen when there are short lesions, focal lesions, or also when there is an abrupt closure in the middle of a PTCA procedure. This procedure is used to open up the arteries to allow proper blood flow.

Types of Stents

• There are a few types of stents that can be used when stenting is chosen as the preferred PCI medical procedure. Merck states that there are two main stents that can be chosen by your cardiologist. Drug eluting stents have specific drugs, such as sirolimus, that are made with the metal that are designed to reduce restenosis. The American Heart Association states that restenosis is the repeated narrowing of coronary arteries. The second type of stent is the bare mental stent (BMS). These stents are made from a nickel and titanium alloy, and does not contain drugs like the drug eluting stents.

Elective and Primary PCI Medical Procedures

• There are two different categories of PCI medical procedures: elective and primary. Primary PCI medical procedures are the ones that are performed on an emergency basis. If you have suffered from a heart attack, primary PCI medical procedures are done as a means of saving your life. Elective PCI medical procedures are the ones that are recommended by your cardiologist and are scheduled. These PCI medical procedures are performed as a means of preventing the possibility that you will suffer from a heart attack.