The conventional heart surgery is carried out through the femoral artery in the groin, but more and more cardiologists are using the radial artery in the wrist. The procedure called angioplasty engrosses clearing blocked arteries by inflating a small balloon inserted through a tube by way of major blood vessels.
This procedure is carried out as a non-emergency treatment for blocked arteries, however, now frequently used to provide instant help to those have suffered a heart attack. Millions of people globally have a heart attack each year. It occurs in those who suffer from coronary heart disease, caused due to atherosclerosis, which is narrowing and hardening of the arteries.
This occurs when clomps of cholesterol build up in the artery, cutting or reducing blood supply to the heart. Similar to other muscles in the body, if heart does not receive constant flow of oxygenated blood, made tissue to dies, resulting in heart attack. Angioplasty broadens the blocked artery, and restores blood flow.
A catheter with a deflated balloon attached to it is fed into the body. When it reaches the blocked artery the balloon is inflated, escalating the diameter of the artery and squeezing the fatty deposits against the artery wall. To maintain the improved size, a hollow metal tube, or stent, is inserted.
In more than ninety percent of procedures the artery is unblocked successfully. Radial angioplasty involves a small opening being made in the wrist under local anesthetic. According to Dr Rod Stables from Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, this is future of angioplasty and is safer and more comfortable with odds of complications much reduced.
In most routine cases, the patient can also go home much sooner. Very small numbers of cardiologists are trained in this procedure. They have chosen the femoral artery as it provides a larger blood vessel, making it easier to guide their instruments through, and some patients need the bulkier catheters which ca not fit through the radial artery, stated Dr Stables.