Angioplasty
Minutes matter – Janet Silverman’s 9-1-1 call ensured her husband, Richard, of South Whitehall Township, Pa., received fast heart attack care from paramedics and our heart care team. In only 24 minutes, his blocked artery was repaired.
A thin, flexible tube (catheter) with a tiny balloon at the end is inserted through an artery in the groin and guided into the artery that is blocked. Once at the location of the blockage, the tiny balloon is inflated. This flattens the fatty deposit and opens the artery. To keep debris out of the bloodstream, we use a special safety device during angioplasty that catches particles that sometimes dislodge from the side of the artery.
Angioplasty is an important part of our award-winning, fast action heart attack program, MI Alert for Heart Attacks. We’ve educated paramedics to diagnose a heart attack in the field and communicate their findings to our doctors. This allows us to prepare for a life-saving angioplasty while the patient is on the way to the hospital, saving precious minutes. Our MI Alert for Heart Attacks program consistently opens the blocked arteries of people having a heart attack in less then 90 minutes, the “gold standard” for heart attack care.
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Need Help? Call 610-402-CARE (8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday) to talk to nurses and other experts who can help you find a heart care doctor and more.
This page last updated 12/22/08 10:51 AM
