Protecting your arteries from narrowing

The slow build-up of cholesterol plaque within the artery wall can cause the artery to narrow, reducing blood flow. Sudden changes in the plaque may cause angina  or may cause a heart attack. A narrowing of a coronary artery is called a coronary artery stenosis.

Where a narrowing is identified in a coronary artery during a coronary angiogram, the cardiologist may treat the lesion using a stent (sine alloy tube). This is known as Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), which is a means of opening narrowings in coronary arteries using fine tubes called catheters introduced from the wrist. Narrowings are treated with balloons and stents that reduce the chance of re-narrowing. PCI is also known as angioplasty or stenting.