Peripheral Vascular Disease

Angioplasty—with or without vascular stenting—is a minimally invasive procedure performed to improve blood flow in the body’s arteries and veins. It is commonly used to treat peripheral vascular disease in the legs.

In an angioplasty procedure, imaging is used to guide a balloon-tipped catheter (a long, thin plastic tube) into an artery or vein and advance it to the point where the vessel is narrow or blocked. The balloon is then inflated to open the vessel, deflated and removed.

During angioplasty, a small wire mesh tub—known as a stent—may be permanently placed in the newly opened artery or vein to keep it open. There are two types of stents: bare stents (wire mesh) and covered stents (also commonly called stent grafts). The covered stents are coated with a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane, which helps prevent restenosis—the return of plaque buildup within the blood vessel.