Location
Toronto General Hospital |
Maps & Directions
Eaton Building - 2nd Floor, at the Cardiac Investigations Unit (CVIU)
Toronto Western Hospital |
Maps & Directions
Fell Pavilion - 3rd Floor, at the Cardiac Investigations Unit (CVIU)
For accessibility assistance, call us a few days before your appointment.
Learn more about Accessibility at UHN.
What We Do
An angioplasty is a procedure that opens the narrowing in the arteries of your heart muscle to improve blood flow. It's not surgery, and you won't have any cuts in your chest or heart.
Instead, your doctor uses a tube (catheter) and inserts it into one of your arteries through your wrist or your groin. The catheter threads its way towards the heart and to the heart artery. Then a wire is passed along it, into your heart artery where the narrowing needs to be opened. A smaller catheter – with an inflatable balloon on the tip – is then passed along the wire to the blockage. The balloon is then inflated to open the artery and increase blood flow to the heart.
It's common for the doctor to also use what's called a coronary stent inside the artery. It's a device made of stainless steel or a metal alloy mesh that holds the artery open like a scaffold. When the balloon catheter is deflated and taken out, the stent stays in place permanently to keep the artery open. Over the next few months, the inner lining of the artery grows over the stent and helps it repair and heal.
If an additional type of procedure is required in your case, your physician will describe it to you in detail.
Hours & Contact
Toronto General Hospital
Monday – Friday
8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Phone: 416 340 3636
Fax: 416 340 3788
Toronto Western Hospital
Monday – Friday
8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Phone: 416 603 5184
Fax: 416 603 5698
