Arterial and Venous Angioplasty - Jordan Vascular

Arterial Angioplasty

Dr. Omar Hamdallah

Recently more arterial diseases have been treated with endovascular procedures. After confirming the diagnosis with non-invasive studies such as CT-scan and MRI, your doctor might recommend an endovascular procedure to treat your arterial disease.
Angioplasty is a procedure in which balloons, stents, and other techniques treat narrowings and blockages within an artery.
Different methods are used depending on the artery, the anatomy, the degree and length of the narrowing, and the patient’s general conditions. Your doctor will discuss with you the best procedure in your case.
Larger arteries are usually treated with stents. Stents are made from specific high-tech metals placed inside the narrowing within the artery. The stents usually are not removed.
Smaller arteries as the arteries below the knee, are treated with balloons only. The newer generation of balloons are coated with drugs to help keep the vessel open for a more extended period; they are commonly known as smart balloons. In addition, those balloons require strong blood thinners to support their action.
Angioplasty procedure is performed under local anesthesia as a day-case without needing an overnight stay in the hospital. However, after the procedure, you might be required to stay flat for a few hours to prevent bleeding from the access site. You can remove the dressings if applied in 24 hours and resume regular daily activity.

Venous Angioplasty

Venous Angioplasty

Venous diseases have been on the rise recently. The main reason is the advancement of imaging devices and understanding these diseases. But, the driving force behind this is the ability of doctors to treat most venous diseases through an endovascular approach.
Iliac vein compression is a common disease that can result in blood clots in the legs or varicose veins due to the compression of the vein draining the blood from the legs to the heart.
Usually, this can be suspected after examing the patient, then 85% of cases can be diagnosed with a high-resolution CT-scan dedicated for the veins. However, the doctor might recommend more invasive testing to confirm the diagnosis in some cases. Venograms and IVUS are invasive procedures, but they accurately confirm up to 99% of the diagnosis.
Vein angioplasty (venoplasty) is an endovascular procedure in which venous diseases are treated by a balloon or a stent. It is a minimally invasive procedure done under local anesthesia. Most patients are discharged within a few hours after the procedure.
Venous stents are specially designed and made for veins and are different from those made for arterial diseases. Venous stents are usually large and can tolerate a high degree of compression.
Venoplasty can be combined with other procedures in some cases. For example, in the case of venous thrombosis; sometimes a stent is placed inside the vein after it is cleared from the blood clot, such as the case in May-Thurner diseases

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