'balloon catheter'

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation in patients with severe symptomatic Aortic stenosis. It is a minimally invasive procedure where the diseased Aortic Valve is changed through the catheter advanced over thigh artery via a small hole in the groin, there by negating the risks of complex surgery and anaesthesia.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a diagnostic procedure that is used during cardiac catheterization. Unlike ultrasound, which uses sound waves to produce an image of the blood vessels, OCT uses light. With OCT, doctors can obtain images of the blood vessels that are about the same as if they were looking under a microscope. The main applications of the OCT system are: 1. Atherosclerotic plaque assessment 2. Stent struts coverage and apposition assessment, and in stent restenosis evaluation 3. PCI guide and optimisation

Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is a technique used in coronary catheterization to measure pressure differences across a coronary artery stenosis (narrowing, usually due to atherosclerosis) to determine the likelihood that the stenosis impedes oxygen delivery to the heart muscle. Fractional flow reserve is defined as the pressure after (distal to) a stenosis relative to the pressure before the stenosis.[citation needed] The result is an absolute number; an FFR of 0.80 means that a given stenosis causes a 20% drop in blood pressure. In other words, FFR expresses the maximal flow down a vessel in the presence of a stenosis compared to the maximal flow in the hypothetical absence of the stenosis.

Your heart’s arteries can become blocked or narrowed from a buildup of cholesterol, cells or other substances (plaque). This can reduce blood flow to your heart and cause chest discomfort. Sometimes a blood clot can suddenly form or get worse and completely block blood flow, leading to a heart attack. Angioplasty opens blocked arteries and restores normal blood flow to your heart muscle. It is not major surgery. It is done by threading a catheter (thin tube) through a small puncture in a leg or arm artery to the heart. The blocked artery is opened by inflating a tiny balloon in it.