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Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road is regarded as a one-stop destination for advanced and innovative cardiac procedures, with laser angioplasty being one of our most recent launches. With state-of-the-art technology and cutting-edge infrastructure, our hospital ensures precision and safety in every procedure. We are fully equipped with minimally invasive interventions that focus on patient comfort, monitoring and comprehensive postoperative care. Our high-resolution imaging systems and modern operating rooms ensure that each patient receives the highest standard of treatment and care.
Why Manipal?
Staffed with a highly experienced team of interventional cardiologists trained in the latest minimally invasive technologies, Manipal Hospitals Old Airport Road delivers expertise and compassionate care under one roof. Our comprehensive team operates with a patient-centric approach that enables quicker recovery, shorter duration of hospital stay and improved overall success rate.
What is Laser Angioplasty?
While inserting a stent is one of the best ways to treat blockages in coronary arteries, not all blockages can be easily cleared. In such cases, a technique called laser angioplasty is used, where laser light is employed to vaporise the plaque and clots. Unlike conventional angioplasty, which dilates blood vessels, laser angioplasty removes the blockage by vaporising the material causing it. In most cases, blockages are caused by excess deposits of plaque that often become too rigid. These are either made up of calcium or fatty deposits of cholesterol that become too difficult to remove.
Advantages of Laser Angioplasty
Laser angioplasty has a wide range of benefits as it eliminates the need to undergo coronary bypass graft surgery. Some of the notable advantages include:
Greater precision: The exact area of the blockage is targeted with higher accuracy, which allows plaque to vaporise more efficiently without damaging the artery walls.
Faster recovery: The minimally invasive nature of the surgery causes comparatively less trauma to the artery than conventional methods, helping patients to recover faster and resume normal activities.
Shorter hospital stay: Shorter procedure time and minimal postoperative complications contribute to faster healing, allowing patients to return home within a day or two.
Improved quality of life: The procedure relieves chest pain while significantly improving exercise tolerance and overall cardiac function.
Is Laser Angioplasty Commonly Performed?
Around 99% of people who undergo an angioplasty are treated with a stent. However, 5-6% of patients experience re-narrowing of the blood vessel due to tissue regrowth. In such cases, inserting another stent to expand the diameter of the blood vessel may not be feasible. Laser angioplasty offers a solution by vaporising the regrown tissue and enabling the blood vessel to return to its normal size. Every time a stent is inserted, the risk of re-narrowing keeps increasing. Despite this disadvantage, stents cause lower levels of damage to arteries than laser angioplasty, which is why this technique is recommended only in certain situations, including the following indications:
Long lesions: Lesions greater than 20mm that extend over the length of the artery and cannot be treated with a stent or balloon.
Eccentric lesions: These form on one side of the arterial wall, making it difficult for stents and balloons to expand them evenly.
Ostial lesions: These occur at the mouth of a major artery branch, where blockages are harder and more resistant.
Moderately calcified lesions: The presence of excess calcium deposits within the artery wall makes expansion using a balloon harder.
Balloon un-crossable and un-dilatable lesions: Blockages are so tight that they don’t allow the balloon to pass through.
Multi-focal, thrombotic saphenous vein graft lesions:
In-stent restenosis: Tissue regrowth that occurs inside a stent, causing it to narrow again.
Chronic total occlusion (CTO): An artery that has been blocked for a long duration, usually several months.
Laser Angioplasty Procedure and Management
The nature of the problem is initially evaluated by an interventional cardiologist or vascular specialist after examining the patient thoroughly. Depending on a variety of factors, including the patient’s health and underlying medical conditions, a personalised treatment plan is drafted to meet the unique needs of the patient. Once the patient is confirmed to be eligible for laser angioplasty, a suitable date for the procedure is scheduled.
The procedure involves the following steps:
General anaesthesia is first administered to the patient.
An interventionist proceeds with making a small incision in the groin area.
A wire is carefully positioned in the femoral artery with the help of real-time X-ray images. It is then directed to the area of blockage where the deposits are obstructing the blood flow.
Upon identifying the exact site of the blockage, the wire acts as a guide for a tube (catheter) that will be implanted and advanced to the blockage location.
A laser is then placed within the tube and directed to the site.
The laser is used to remove fatty deposits from the artery walls. A combination of X-ray and contrast dyes will help operators to observe the procedure while in progress.
After the plaque is vaporised, the laser, tube and wire are removed, and the groin incision is closed with stitches.
The patient is then allowed to rest and will be allowed to return home depending on their physical health conditions.
The conventional angioplasty procedure involves widening a narrowed artery using balloons and keeping it open using stents. On the other hand, laser angioplasty involves the use of laser light to vaporize the blockage instead of dilating the vessel.
Laser angioplasty is used to remove harder deposits of calcium or cholesterol and blockages that are balloon-resistant. It can also be used when patients experience re-narrowing after a stent insertion.
Angioplasty is considered safe when performed by experienced interventional cardiologists. Although there are minor risks such as artery injury involved, they can be carefully managed using advanced technologies in a hospital setting.
Depending on the type, location, and size of the blockage, it can be effectively vaporised. However, in most cases, a stent may also be required to keep the artery open and maintain blood flow.
Owing to the non-invasive nature of this procedure, recovery after laser angioplasty is generally quick, with patients often being discharged in a couple of days.
Owing to the non-invasive nature of this procedure, recovery after laser angioplasty is generally quick, with patients often being discharged in a couple of days.
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