Coronary Angiography and Stenting

Coronary angiography is a thin-tube imaging test that maps the arteries of the heart, and in the same sitting a narrowed or blocked artery can be opened with a balloon and held open with a stent, a treatment called angioplasty or percutaneous coronary intervention. It is done through a small puncture in the wrist or groin under local anaesthesia, with no open surgery and no general anaesthesia, so recovery is quick. Restoring blood flow relieves the chest pain and breathlessness of coronary artery disease and, during a heart attack, reopening the artery without delay can save heart muscle. Patients travel abroad for it to reach experienced interventional cardiology teams and well-equipped catheter laboratories with short waiting times.