My husband was just diagnosed with inferolateral ischemia. They think he had a heart attack in the heart valve. They are talking about catheterisation. Can you give us any insight into this or any other treatment? Thanks.
Ischemia means lack of blood flow, oxygen. So unfortunately a part of your Husbands heart is trying to cope with a very low oxygen level. A catheterization is a low risk procedure in which they insert a catheter into the femoral artery in the top of the inner thigh, or the radial artery in the arm. They push this up to the top of the heart and through the aorta, and into the coronary arteries. They can then squirt a contrast chemical into the arteries which is picked up by an scanner above his chest and in turn this puts the large image onto a screen in front of the cardiologist. They can see where the blockage/s is/are and if necessary open them with angioplasty. This involves withdrawing the catheter, and attaching a tiny balloon with a wire mesh tube around it, onto the end of it, they go back in. They place the tiny balloon and wire mesh tube (Stent) into the blockage and blow up the balloon. This squeezes the disease causing the blockage into the artery wall, and expands the stent into place. They deflate the balloon and withdraw, leaving the stent permanently in place holding the artery open.