Balloon Angioplasty / Stent Treatment Ankara
Today, much more modern and practical methods are used in the treatment of coronary artery disease. Balloon angioplasty and stent treatment is one of them. Balloon angioplasty is the application of only a balloon to the vessel. By means of this procedure, which allows clogged or narrowed coronary arteries to be opened and blood to flow easily, patients can regain their health in a short time. In the treatment of balloon angioplasty, an additional stent is often applied to ensure that the results are permanent and that the ballooned vessel is not blocked again in a short time. For more information about balloon angioplasty and stent treatment, you can read the rest of our article and contact clinic of Prof. Basri Amasyalı in Ankara.
What is Balloon Angioplasty?
Balloon angioplasty is a modern method used in the treatment of coronary artery diseases. Coronary artery disease is a condition in which the blood vessels that feed the heart are blocked or narrowed. Balloon angioplasty is a more comfortable and short-term treatment option that can be applied instead of by-pass in the treatment of obstruction or narrowing. It can be performed immediately after the angiography procedure for imaging the coronary arteries. Or, it can be done in another day after the problems in the coronary artery are determined with angiography. If there is a risk of re-occlusion of the ballooned vessel, a stent is placed in the ballooned vessel immediately after balloon angioplasty.
What is Stent?
Stents are lattice-shaped apparatus made of special metal-based alloys and placed in vessels after balloon angioplasty. Although the stents are made of metal, they conform to the shape of the vessel. Therefore, they do not pose any risk to health. They play the role of complementing the treatment with balloon angioplasty and are used to keep the ballooned vessel open for many years and not be blocked again.
How to Perform Balloon Angioplasty-Stent Treatment?
Balloon angioplasty is performed with the help of special catheters that are thin but resistant to pressure. The catheter placed in the occluded or narrowed area is inflated. The catheter, which looks like a balloon, allows the vessel to expand, break up the blockage and relax the blood flow in the area. If necessary, medicated or non-medicated stents are placed and the treatment is completed. Currently, stent is used in almost all cases to prevent re-occlusion of the vessel.
After the stents lose their function, they are found in the vessel as a foreign substance. In order to prevent the health problems that this can cause and to achieve perfection, fusible stents have been produced. However, fusible stents have been shown to cause more vascular occlusion in the long term and are now almost abandoned.
What are Stent Types? What are Drug-Elated Stents?
The main purpose of the first Stents, which started to be produced towards the end of the 1980s, was to keep the vessel open by using the mechanical power provided by the stent. In parallel with the technological advances over time, there have been significant advances in both the cage structure of the stents and the metal alloy used. Thus, the possibility of re-narrowing or occlusion of the stents was reduced to 20-30%. However, this was not enough and some drugs were coated on the metal alloy. In this way, the possibility of reocclusion of the stent was tried to be reduced by the effect of the drug released slowly from the metal alloy of the stent. Today, drug-coated stents are used in almost all procedures, and thus the risk of occlusion of the stents can be reduced to 5-10%. However, drug-eluting stents are approximately 10 times more expensive than normal metal stents.
Is Balloon Angioplasty-Stent a Risky Procedure?
Serious risks in balloon angioplasty-stent procedure are extremely rare. Patients who do not get effective results from balloon angioplasty and need emergency bypass are at a low rate of approximately 1-2%. However, even if it is a rare possibility, this risk should be considered before any operation and the risk of the procedures should be discussed openly with the patient.
What are the Advantages of Balloon Angioplasty-Stent Treatment?
Balloon angioplasty-stent treatment is less risky than by-pass. Therefore, it provides peace of mind for both physicians and patients. The patient can be discharged 1 day after the procedure and return to his/her daily life.
Ankara Balloon Angioplasty-Stent Treatment
Almost every vessel in the body can be opened with a balloon angioplasty. However, what is important here is the extent to which the stented vessel will remain open for many years. Stents placed in patients who have problems in 2 or 3 vessels at once, or those with long segment stenosis or in places with main vessel bifurcation do not give good results in the long term and they become occluded again. In such cases, open heart surgery is often considered. Therefore, angioplasty-stent treatment must be planned by a specialist cardiologist. In some cases, balloon angioplasty can be performed immediately after classical angioplasty.
For more detailed information about balloon angioplasty and stent treatment, you can call our clinic in Ankara and make an appointment at any time.
