Has your husband had a stress test?
For risk adverse individuals there is tomography (CT) scans of the heart and its surrounding arteries are almost as reliable and accurate as more invasive procedures to check for blockages.
The 64 slice CT scan that the researcher’s are talking about was first introduced in the US in 2005 and was tested at Johns Hopkins. There is an x-ray radiation risk and may not be advised for some individuals, but it can rule out patients that do not need the more invasive procedure. The 64 slice CT scan also proved to be a good predictor of patients that will need catheterizations in the future. And the scan provides better visiablility of the anatomy of the vessels...not just the lumen as with angioplasty.
You may want to get a second opinion before deciding on angioplasty.
The following post appeared, originally, under the Welcome thread. In order for more people to see the questions, I copied and pasted the original post into this thread.
This post is by jonesajax (8/25/2008)
"My husband has recently been diagnosed with inferolateral ischemia. The heart Center Doctor wants to do an angiogram. My husband has heard bad things about the risks and is afraid to do it. Can you tell me what inferolateral ischemia means? What can help him overcome his fear."
Below and to one side of the heart wall. Ischemia means lack of blood flow, and in the context of vascular/heart that would indicate complete or patrial occlusion (blocked due to plague, etc.)