Cracking those hardened plaques in your heart arteries
The article discusses treatments for atherosclerosis, the buildup of hardened plaque in coronary arteries, which can lead to heart attacks or strokes. While soft plaques can be treated with balloons and stents, severe calcification requires specialized procedures like rotational atherectomy, high-pressure balloon angioplasty, and intravascular lithotripsy (IVL). IVL uses sonic pressure waves to crack hardened plaque, offering a breakthrough despite its limitations.
Why it matters
This information is vital for understanding cardiovascular health and the advanced medical procedures available to treat severe arterial blockages, potentially saving lives and improving the quality of life for patients with heart disease. It highlights the ongoing innovation in medical technology.
Treating plaque buildup in coronary arteries, i.e. atherosclerosis, involves a combination of lifestyle changes, medications, and if required, surgical intervention.
Plaque is a mixture of fat, cholesterol, calcium, cellular waste and a clotting protein called fibrin that collects on your artery walls over time.
This mix can accummulate, making these blood vessels narrower or blocked.
This then stops fresh blood from reaching parts of the body, eventually putting the patient at risk of a heart attack, heart failure or stroke.
Procedures such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and angioplasty can open narrowed or blocked arteries, and improve blood flow to the heart.
“If it is a soft plaque, we put in a balloon and expand it in the artery, which then crushes the soft material to create a nice lumen (hollow space within the artery walls).
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