Interventional Cardiology

Interventional Cardiology

Blockages that build-up in the arteries can lead to serious heart problems, including heart attack. Baptist Heart & Vascular offers interventional cardiology services to open blocked arteries using minimally invasive methods known as percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI).

Our interventional cardiologists can use PCI on an emergency basis – when a patient is experiencing a heart attack to open a blocked artery and restore blood flow to the heart – or during a scheduled procedure to open blocked arteries before they cause a heart attack.

During PCI, long thin tubes are threaded through the patient’s body and into the coronary arteries using advanced imaging. Through these tubes, a smaller tube carrying a balloon is guided into the coronary arteries, and once at a blockage, the balloon is inflated pressing the obstructing plaque against the walls of the coronary artery.

To keep the artery open, an expandable device called a stent is threaded through the catheter and deployed at the site of the blockage.