The procedure requires lengthy hospital stays, and sometimes months of recovery after the patient returns home. About 20 years ago, cardiologists began using a new technique, called balloon angioplasty, which enables them to treat clogged arteries without major surgery. Inside the catheter, there is a thinner catheter, which carries a miniature, deflated balloon on its tip. Taking just one to three hours, angioplasties are performed in a catheterization laboratory, using a local anesthetic, with most patients experiencing only minor discomfort. Although angioplasty has freed many patients from relying on bypass surgery, one particular group had not been well suited for it.
Some people have really advanced plaque, with calcium deposits which form in the plaque.
Our concern with patients like this, is that we'll tear the artery when the balloon is inflated. Because of the risks, most of these patients have had little choice but to undergo bypass operations. Now, a tool that actually removes plaque, allows many of them to be treated without major surgery. According to Dr. Danahy, rotoablation is performed very much like balloon angioplasty. The rotoablator looks similar to the balloon-tipped catheter, but on its end, rather than a balloon, the rotoablator has a diamond tip, which spins at 200,000 times per minute, grinding the plaque into minuscule pieces.