angioplasty

(an′jē-ŏ-plas″tē)

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[angio- + -plasty]
Any endovascular procedure that reopens narrowed blood vessels and restores forward blood flow. Most often angioplasties are performed on coronary, carotid, or peripheral arteries occluded by atherosclerosis. Some common angioplasty techniques include the following: atherectomy, which opens occluded, scarred, or calcified vessels by removing atherosclerotic plaques with rapidly rotating drills; balloon angioplasty, which uses the inflation of high-pressure balloons within blocked arteries to force them open; laser and radiofrequency angioplasties, which vaporize or ablate atherosclerotic plaques; endovascular stents, which hold vessels open with expandable lattices inserted across the narrowed section of the artery.
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ARTERIAL BALLOON ANGIOPLASTY ; SEE: percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty

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