Heart News
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Clearing clogged arteries, with a lawnmower!A new plaque-busting drill can clean out clogged arteries in minutes. A tiny rotating blade, like that on a lawn mower, shaves plaque from the artery wall, collects and removes it. Doctors who have used the device on patients’ legs say it works better than other techniques, including stents and angioplasty, both of which work by making the artery wider and pushing the plaque tighter against the wall. Recent research shows that removing it helps patients with severe leg pain to walk comfortably again, and doctors are hoping that eventually it can be used in other parts of the body. Oklahoma vascular surgeon Dr Jim Melton, one of the first doctors to try the technique, says: ‘when arteries are blocked, they get little oxygen, and patients can experience excruciating pain. By extracting the plaque, we open up the arteries so blood can flow freely, providing oxygen to the extremities, which cures it.’ The plaque cutter, whose carbide cutters are almost four times stronger than steel, is used in a minimally invasive outpatient procedure where a catheter, or tube, is put into the patient’s groin and fed through blood vessels until it reaches the clogged area. Once in place, the rotating blades are switched on and excess plaque removed. |
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