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By Mayo Clinic staffBefore a scheduled angioplasty, your doctor will review your medical history and do a physical exam. You'll also have an imaging test called a coronary angiogram to determine if your blockages can be treated with angioplasty. A coronary angiogram helps doctors determine if the main arteries to your heart are narrowed or blocked. A liquid dye is injected into the arteries of your heart through a catheter — a long, thin tube that's fed through an artery, usually in your groin, to arteries in your heart. As the dye fills your arteries, they become visible on X-ray and video, so your doctor can see where your arteries are blocked. If your doctor finds a blockage during your coronary angiogram, it's possible he or she may decide to perform angioplasty and stenting immediately after the angiogram while you're heart is still catheterized.
You'll receive instructions on what you can or can't eat or drink before angioplasty. Typically, you have to stop eating or drinking by midnight the night before. Your preparation may be different if you're already staying at the hospital before your procedure.
Whether the angioplasty is pre-scheduled or done as an emergency, you'll likely have some routine tests first, including a chest X-ray, electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood tests.
The night before your procedure, you should:
- Follow your doctor's instructions about adjusting your current medications before angioplasty. Your doctor may instruct you to stop taking certain medications before angioplasty, particularly if you take certain diabetes medications or blood thinners.
- Gather all of your medications to take to the hospital with you, including nitroglycerin, if you take it.
- Take approved medications with only small sips of water.
- Arrange for transportation home. Angioplasty usually requires an overnight hospital stay, and you won't be able to drive yourself home the next day.
- Angioplasty. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Angioplasty/Angioplasty_All.html. Accessed Oct. 31, 2008.
- Stent procedure. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4721. Accessed Oct. 31, 2008.
- Aroesty JM, et al. Patient information: Percutaneous coronary intervention. http//www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed Oct. 23, 2008.
- Cutlip D, et al. General principles of the use of intracoronary stents. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed Oct. 23, 2008.
- Carrozza JP, et al. Periprocedural complications of percutaneous coronary intervention. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed Oct. 23, 2008.
- King SB, et al. 2007 update of the ACC/AHA/ SCAI 2005 guideline update for percutaneous coronary intervention. Circulation. 2008;117:261.
- Hannan EL. Drug-eluting stents vs. coronary-artery bypass grafting in multivessel coronary disease. New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;358:351.
- Levin T, et al. Intracoronary stent restenosis. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed Oct. 23, 2008.
