Your angiogram report has a number like 90% next to one of your heart arteries, and the word "stent" came up before you'd taken it in. Or you arrived in emergency with crushing chest pain and there was no time to think it over.
Coronary angioplasty (also called PTCA or PCI) opens a narrowed heart artery from the inside. A cardiologist passes a thin tube from your wrist or groin up to the heart, threads a fine wire across the blockage and inflates a tiny balloon to press the plaque back. A stent, a small mesh tube coated with medicine, is then usually left in place to hold the artery open. Your chest isn't opened, and you stay awake.
During a heart attack, opening the artery quickly is the preferred treatment, because every minute of blocked flow costs heart muscle. In stable angina, a stent usually eases the pain but often doesn't lower the risk of a future heart attack much beyond what good medicines achieve, so the tablets and habits afterwards matter as much as the stent.
Our cardiology team performs angiography and angioplasty and gives emergency cardiac care round the clock for heart attacks. Afterwards, our cardiac rehabilitation programme helps you get fit again under supervision.