The goal of treatment is for you to resume a full and active lifestyle. Your treatment depends on many factors, such as your age, heart muscle function, and other health problems. At first, treatment may include changes to your diet and a monitored exercise program. Your health care provider may prescribe medication to prevent chest pain. If this treatment is not effective over a brief time or if your coronary arteries are severely blocked, the blockages may need to be opened up or bypassed.
Balloon angioplasty is a method of opening up, or dilating, a partially blocked artery.
The procedure involves some risk, but the risk is less than that of coronary artery bypass surgery. If you have very severe or multiple blockages, your health care provider may recommend coronary artery bypass surgery. Arteries from the chest or veins from the legs or arms are used to create detours around areas of blockage in the heart artery. Just as treatment is different for each person, so is the course of the disease. Many people respond well to balloon angioplasty or bypass surgery and return to very active lives, sometimes more active than before their diagnosis.