Interventional Radiology - Balloon Angioplasty
Also referred to as percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, this technique is commonly employed to increase the size of the opening within an artery. The procedure is performed under local anesthesia and requires the interventional radiologist to thread a narrow balloon tipped catheter into the patient’s artery ( common the femoral artery) using fluoroscopic guidance and advance it to the site of narrowing or obstruction in the artery of concern.
Once the balloon end of the catheter has been established to be in the correct place, the balloon is inflated and deflated, often several times, to decrease or eliminate the obstruction. The balloon is subsequently deflated and removed. RIMA peforms these procedures on an outpatient basis within hospital based special procedure and angiography suites.