Angioplasty & Vascular Stenting in Kansas City, KS

Angioplasty with or without vascular stenting is a minimally invasive procedure to improve blood flow in arteries and veins.

In angioplasty, imaging techniques are used to guide a catheter with specialized instruments into an artery or vein to remove a blockage or widen an area that is narrowed. Occasionally during angioplasty, a small wire mesh tube called a stent may be permanently placed in the newly opened artery or vein to help keep it open.

Conditions Treated With Angioplasty

Angioplasty with or without vascular stenting is commonly used to treat conditions affecting arteries or veins throughout the body, including:

• Atherosclerosis
• Peripheral artery disease (PAD)
• Renal vascular hypertension
• Carotid artery stenosis
• Coronary artery disease
• Venous narrowing and
• Narrowing or blockage in dialysis fistulas or grafts

What to Expect From an Angioplasty or Stenting Procedure

Depending upon your condition and the location of arterial or vein narrowing or blockage, you may have your procedure performed in an outpatient setting or you may be hospitalized for a short period. The type of anesthesia used will depend upon these factors too.

Using image guidance, one of our skilled interventional radiologists will insert an inflatable balloon mounted at the tip of a catheter through a small incision in the skin and into an artery or vein and guide it to where the blockage or narrowing is located.

By inflating the balloon, the artery or vein is expanded and the plaque causing the problem is forced against the vessel walls increasing blood flow.  If the interventional radiologist determines that a stent is needed to keep the vessel open, it can be put into place during the procedure.

Benefits of Angioplasty and Stenting Procedures

As minimally invasive procedures that are frequently performed in an outpatient setting, balloon angioplasty and stenting have generally replaced open surgery as the preferred treatment largely because clinical results have shown interventional therapy to be as effective as surgery.