Therapeutic opening of a blocked blood vessel.
Usually a balloon is inflated near the end of a catheter (see catheterization ) to flatten plaques (see atherosclerosis ) against an artery's wall. Performed on a coronary artery, angioplasty is a less invasive alternative to coronary bypass surgery in the treatment of coronary heart disease . Complications, including embolism s and tearing, are rare and results are excellent, but plaques tend to build up again after the procedure. Angioplasty is also used to expand a severely obstructed heart valve.