What is interventional cardiology?

Interventional cardiology is a specialized field of medicine that focuses on unclogging blocked arteries using minimally invasive tools and techniques to restore blood flow to organs and tissues throughout the body. Interventional cardiologists treat heart attack, stroke, and blockages to the kidneys and legs without open surgery.

Instead, interventional cardiologists use catheters to diagnose and treat cardiovascular conditions. Catheters are thin, flexible tubes that can be inserted through a small puncture site in the skin and threaded through the blood vessel to a blockage in an artery. Specialized balloon angioplasty catheters are designed to expand and push blockages against artery walls to reopen the artery for blood flow. These catheters can also be used to place stents - metal, mesh tubes that act as scaffolding to prop a cleared artery open - and for diagnostic tests.

Interventional cardiology, as a less invasive treatment option than cardiac bypass graft surgery, has truly changed the entire field of coronary and valvular heart disease treatment.

Interventional cardiology refers to various non-surgical procedures for treating cardiovascular disease. Interventional cardiologists use catheters -- thin, flexible tubes -- to get inside blood vessels for diagnostic tests or to repair damaged vessels or other heart structures, often avoiding the need for surgery.