| This year celebrates the 30th anniversary of a | | | | procedure that requires no general anesthesia. |
| medical breakthrough that has saved the lives of | | | | Steady advances in the techniques and tools of |
| millions of heart attack victims and enabled heart | | | | angioplasty have made the procedure a |
| attack survivors to enjoy more normal lives. | | | | treatment option for more patients. In the early |
| It was 30 years ago that Dr. Andreas Gruentzig | | | | years, an estimated five to 10 percent of patients |
| used a small tube with a tiny balloon on the end, | | | | with heart disease were candidates for |
| called a balloon-catheter, to open his patient's | | | | angioplasty, and it was successful just 65 percent |
| blocked heart artery. | | | | of the time. |
| The procedure, called angioplasty, restored normal | | | | Today, approximately two-thirds of patients with |
| blood flow to the heart, relieved the 38-year-old | | | | coronary artery disease are candidates for |
| patient's chest pain and likely prevented a heart | | | | angioplasty, stenting and other catheter-based |
| attack. Before angioplasty, survivors of heart | | | | treatments. The treatments are successful in 98 |
| attacks often faced life-long disability and physical | | | | percent of patients, and major complications |
| restriction. | | | | occur in only 1.5 percent of cases. Just one |
| This year, cardiologists from around the world are | | | | patient in 1,000 needs emergency bypass surgery. |
| celebrating angioplasty's 30 years of progress in | | | | Refinements in catheters and balloons have been |
| stopping heart attacks and treating coronary | | | | continuous. But dramatically improved patient |
| artery disease. They are also looking ahead to | | | | outcomes are attributed to two other major |
| new frontiers, including the promise of angioplasty | | | | advancements: |
| and stent placement to stop stroke, America's | | | | • The bare metal stent, approved by the |
| third-largest killer and the leading cause of serious | | | | U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1994, was |
| disability. | | | | designed to address the problem of sudden |
| "Thirty years ago, one in four heart attack | | | | collapse of an artery following angioplasty. Stents |
| victims died," said Bonnie Weiner, M.D., president | | | | overcame this problem by propping the artery |
| of The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography | | | | open and restoring normal blood flow. |
| and Interventions (SCAI) and professor of | | | | • The drug-eluting or coated stent, first |
| medicine and interim chair of cardiovascular | | | | approved in the U.S. in 2003 and designed to |
| medicine at St. Vincent Hospital at Worcester | | | | release medication over time to interrupt the |
| Medical Center in Worcester, Mass. "Today, more | | | | biologic processes that cause tissue growth and |
| than 95 percent survive. And it's very typical for | | | | re-narrowing inside the stent, has reduced the |
| heart attack survivors to return to work and | | | | incidence of tissue build-up from 40 percent in the |
| normal activities just a few days after | | | | early days to just five to seven percent today. |
| angioplasty." | | | | Looking ahead, angioplasty's catheter-based |
| "Although heart disease continues to be the | | | | procedures and tools offer exciting potential for |
| number one killer in the U.S., the success and | | | | treating other serious health issues effectively-and |
| progress of angioplasty is one of modern | | | | less invasively. |
| medicine's most inspiring stories," says Steven | | | | One of the most exciting areas of development is |
| Bailey, M.D., SCAI secretary and interim chief of | | | | the treatment of diseased carotid arteries, the |
| the Division of Cardiology, professor of medicine | | | | vessels that supply blood to the brain, to stop or |
| at the University of Texas Health Sciences | | | | prevent stroke. |
| Center at San Antonio. | | | | Catheter-based procedures are also being used to |
| The discovery that balloon catheters could serve | | | | treat renal arteries that supply blood to the |
| as tools for delivering medical therapies to arteries | | | | kidneys and arteries that provide oxygen- and |
| launched a new era of "interventional cardiology." | | | | nutrient-rich blood to the legs and feet. |
| Until then, emergency coronary artery bypass | | | | Even newer devices are being delivered via |
| graft surgery (CABG) and clot-busting drugs were | | | | catheter to close a small, naturally occurring hole |
| the only interventions to stop heart attacks and | | | | between the upper left and right chambers of the |
| treat coronary artery disease. | | | | heart that puts some patients at a higher risk of |
| Angioplasty, which is frequently accompanied by | | | | stroke. |
| stent implantation, is a minimally invasive | | | | |