Coronary Intervention

Angioplasty is a procedure to open a blocked blood vessel. During an angioplasty procedure, a thin, flexible tube (called a catheter) with a deflated balloon at its tip is threaded through a blood vessel to the blocked artery. Once in place, the balloon is inflated to push the plaque against the artery wall, widening the artery and restoring blood flow to the heart.

Sometimes a stent is placed in the artery during angioplasty. A stent is a small mesh “scaffold” that is used to prop open narrowed or weakened arteries. Maine Medical Center has been involved in national clinical trials of newer drug-eluting stents. These stents are coated with a drug that dramatically reduces re-stenosis (the build-up of scar tissue at the site of the stent that can cause the artery to narrow again).

Each year, over 1,400 percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) are performed by MaineHealth specialists. We aim to reduce risk of complications, with more than half of all PCIs performed using the radial artery (wrist) as opposed to the femoral artery (groin) for access. Use of radial access is associated with quicker recovery time, less discomfort for the patient, and less bleeding
complications post-procedure.

High Risk PCI

The team also performs high-risk PCIs including left main artery stenosis in patients at increased risk for surgery, and on those vessels that have a chronic total occlusion (CTO).