Coronary angioplasty, also known as Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), is a procedure that aims to restore blood flow to the muscle of the heart.
Like any other muscle, the heart muscle needs a good blood supply. The coronary arteries take blood to the heart muscle. When there is narrowing of one or more of your coronary arteries this causes angina (chest pain). The narrowing is caused by fatty deposits called plaques in the coronary arteries. This is called Coronary Heart Disease (CHD).
Coronary angioplasty is a procedure where a narrowed section of a coronary artery is widened by using a balloon and stent [a small mesh tube] through the catheter in the coronary blood vessel. The aim of coronary angioplasty is to treat CHD and restore blood flow to the muscle of the heart and resultant improvement in symptoms of angina.