Board Certified Cardiologist & Cardiovascular Physician located in Princeton, NJ & Hamilton Square, NJ
When the arteries serving your heart are clogged, coronary angioplasty and stenting can eliminate the blockage and restore blood flow. At NJ Heart & Vascular Care in Princeton and Hamilton, New Jersey, Kintur Sanghvi, MD, FACC, FSCAI, has performed well over 10,000 procedures to open calcified coronary artery blockages, including completely blocked arteries and in complex cases involving multiple arterial blockages. Dr. Sanghvi pioneered the wrist artery approach and traveled through six continents to teach other cardiologists how to use this innovative technique. To schedule an appointment, call or use the online booking feature today.
Coronary Angioplasty & Stenting Q & A
What is coronary angioplasty and stenting?
Coronary angioplasty and stenting is a minimally invasive procedure to open blocked coronary arteries and restore blood flow to your heart.
When you have coronary artery disease, the vessels become blocked with cholesterol and other substances that accumulate and form plaque. Over time, the plaque keeps enlarging and blocking blood flow through the artery.
You won’t have symptoms until the artery becomes significantly clogged. Then you’ll experience chest pain, chest pressure, shortness of breath, and fatigue. If the artery is completely clogged, it causes a heart attack.
What happens during coronary angioplasty and stenting?
Dr. Sanghvi performs coronary angioplasty and stenting using a narrow catheter that he threads through your blood vessels and into the clogged coronary artery.
After applying a local anesthetic, he makes a small incision and inserts the catheter into an artery in your groin or wrist. Using real-time X-ray imaging to see your arteries and the catheter, he threads the catheter to your heart.
Once he positions the catheter, he inflates a balloon. The balloon pushes the plaque back against the arterial wall, which restores normal blood flow. To help keep the artery open, he places a wire mesh stent into the newly cleared area.
What are the benefits of coronary angioplasty and stenting?
Dr. Sanghvi pioneered the transradial angioplasty technique. He even invented the RAILWAY™ Sheathless Access System, the device used by most cardiologists to advance the catheter using this approach.
The angioplasty and stenting procedure is done the same way. In the transradial technique, however, the catheter is inserted into the radial artery in your wrist instead of using the femoral artery in your groin.
There are several vital benefits to this approach, but the two most important are:
Faster results
Since the radial artery is closer to your heart, this technique saves precious time, reaching your heart more quickly to restore the normal flow of blood.
Dr. Sanghvi frequently performs transradial angioplasty and stenting in the emergency and urgent care settings, as well as during elective procedures.
Faster recovery
You can walk around right after a wrist artery catheterization. You also go home in a few hours. By comparison, you must lie still for about five hours when the catheter is introduced through the femoral artery.
If you need angioplasty and stenting for coronary artery disease, call NJ Heart & Vascular Care or schedule an appointment online today.
Method and device for sheathless transradial catheterization
