In balloon angioplasty, a catheter with a small balloon on its tip is inserted into the blockage site. Once there, the balloon is inflated in the artery to flatten or compress the plaque against the artery wall.
The Maze procedure is a surgical treatment for atrial fibrillation, which can often be done using minimally invasive techniques. To perform the surgery, the surgeons use radiofrequency energy, or freezing, to create an intricate “maze” pattern of scar on the upper chamber of the heart muscle.
Transmyocardial laser revascularization (also called TMR) is a treatment for patients with coronary artery disease who have not responded to or are not eligible for procedures such as angioplasty and stenting, medication, and coronary artery bypass graft surgery. For these patients, this surgical procedure is used to relieve angina (chest pain) that is generally caused by a lack of oxygen and blood flow to the heart.
The heart is made up of four chambers, the two upper chambers are called the atria and the two lower chambers are the ventricles. A ventricular aneurysm occurs when one of the ventricles has a weakening and is expanded and bulged like a balloon.
Following a heart attack, a small number of patients will develop a ventricular septal defect, a hole in the wall (septum) that separates the ventricles. Repair involves opening the chest and placing a patch that is sutured in place to cover the hole between the two ventricles.
