Angiograms and stents are used to clear clogged arteries and improve cardiovascular health. Angiograms are imaging tests that create a visual outline of the arteries to identify blocked arteries that need stents. Stents are non-corrosive metal braces that open up an artery to improve circulation. Traditional angiograms and stents both require catheters, while nontraditional types avoid the use of catheters. Patients at risk of needing angiograms and stents include those with cardiovascular disease, peripheral artery disease, renovascular problems, and deep vein thrombosis.
Angiograms and stents are both angioplasty tools used to clear clogged arteries and improve cardiovascular health. Angioplasty is a medical procedure that uses stents to forcibly widen blood vessels that have plaque-lined walls, dangerously limiting the amount of oxygen to the heart. To identify blocked arteries that need to be kept open by stents, doctors give patients angiographies, which are imaging tests that create a visual outline of the arteries. Because angiograms are typically done as an immediate prelude to angioplasty, patients can have angiograms and stents done the same day, resulting in a quick procedure and an overnight hospital stay.
During a traditional angiogram, a surgeon inserts a catheter into a patient’s arm or leg and injects a contrast agent into the blood vessels. The patient is given electromagnetic radiation or x-ray radiation or x-rays. The images produced by the x-rays show an outline of the arteries, with the contrast dye allowing doctors to see which arteries are wide enough for proper blood flow and which are too wide. tight. Based on these images, the doctor determines which arteries need stents placed in them to expand in width.
Stents are non-corrosive metal braces that open up an artery to improve circulation. Because traditional angiograms and stents both require catheters, the surgeon usually keeps the same catheter used for the angiogram and uses it to insert the stent. A deflated balloon is first inserted through the catheter into the chosen artery and then inflated to compress the plaque and mark the site for the stent. Next, the stent is inserted into the artery; the balloon and catheter are removed.
Two nontraditional types of angiography avoid the use of catheters. Computed tomography (CT) angiograms and magnetic resonance angiograms (MRA) use intravenous (IV) lines of therapy inserted into the leg or arm to inject dyes into the patient. In such cases, a catheter should only be inserted for stent placement.
Patients at risk of needing angiograms and stents include those with cardiovascular disease, peripheral artery disease, renovascular problems, and deep vein thrombosis. Other candidates are people over the age of 60, especially those on high-fat diets or those who have high cholesterol. The main symptom that angiograms and stents may need is a sharp pain or tightening in the chest. The benefits of angioplasty include a reduced risk of a heart attack and avoidance of blood clots, although some patients who are highly sensitive to clotting need to take medications to prevent blood from clotting around the stent.
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