Procedure can put you on road to recovery after heart problems

I was driving along a section of the M8 near Glasgow recently where road maintenance has been carried out.

You’d have to ask an engineer for the exact details but the road has been widened, meaning more traffic can get through.

The traffic system then works better – theoretically, anyway.

We do something similar in medicine when we perform something called an angioplasty.

People get angina due to a build-up of fatty plaques in the arteries around the heart, often due to lifestyle.

These plaques restrict the flow of blood round the body, and put pressure on the heart to work that bit harder.

In most people, angina is managed by medicine, but in some an angioplasty is required.

Folk who experience a heart attack often get it done too, and it’s a very nifty procedure that’s quite successful.

Usually the patient is conscious, which is remarkable when you consider it’s heart surgery.

And unlike other heart procedures, it doesn’t require the chest to be cracked open either.

An incision is made in the arm on the groin and a tube called a catheter is inserted.

This has a hollow tube that helps guide a smaller tube into your arteries. Using X-ray video equipment, the surgeon guides the tube up the body to the heart.

The patient can, if they like, watch the procedure happen on a screen. It only takes half an hour or so — not as long as an episode of your favourite sitcom.

Once the wire arrives, the surgeon inflates a small balloon.

This balloon squashes down the plaque and widens the artery out — much like adding an extra lane to a motorway.

The balloon is surrounded by a tiny mesh sheath, called a stent. The balloon widens the stent until it sticks to the inside of the artery.

It is left behind, keeping the artery wide, while the deflated balloon is carefully removed.

The stent has chemicals which helps combat the fatty plaques and keeps the area in good working order.

All being well, you can go home the day of the procedure – although the patient has to avoid heavy lifting, strenuous activities and driving for at least a week.

That includes motorways…