|
Questions posted in the
Heart Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Question Title: congested heart failureForum: The Heart Forum
| |
Recently i was advised of a possible procedure that could benefit my mom. I'm not sure of the name of the procedure, but the procedure involves injecting alcohol into the artery similar to an angiogram. i believe it would block one of the arteries near the heart muscle. I would appreciate any info on this procedure since it is a new procedure. thanks ____ Dear Nancy, The procedure you are likely speaking of is alcohol ablation of the septal artery. Septal artery alcohol ablation is still considered an experimental procedure, however for all those patients who are not candidates for surgical (open heart surgery) correction, this procedure is their only hope when they do not get better with medicines. In simple or layman's terms, septal ablation is a controlled infarction (MI or heart attack) aimed only at the septal wall that is bulging into the outflow tract of the heart(and thereby obstructing outflow of blood). One of the three main coronary arteries (the left anterior descending) has little branches off of it called the septal perforators which supply blood, oxygen, and other nutrients to the septal wall. So by putting alcohol selectively down one or two of the septal artery branches, you selectively infarct(kill) the tissue fed by those branches; since infarcted (dead) tissue shrinks and scars, you have essentially minimized the obstruction caused by the bulging tissue which now scarred, no longer "bulges". Of course the procedure does not completely eliminate the obstruction, however it does minimize such that the patient's symptoms are lessened (reduced shortness of breath and minimal to no congestion). I hope this information is useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please
| |
