Over the past decade, the use of a minimally invasive technology called angioplasty or balloon angioplasty has become a very popular method of reopening the clogged blood vessels of the legs and heart. Angioplasty is the process by which a tiny balloon is inserted into a vessel that has become narrowed or blocked. The balloon is inflated thereby opening the vessel.

Recent advances have allowed physicians to also use angioplasty technology to unblock the carotid artery in the neck and arteries of the brain. The carotid artery is a major supplier of blood from the heart to the brain. Unblocking a narrowed carotid artery through angioplasty technology helps prevent strokes, which are sometimes known as "brain attacks".

Using the latest minimally invasive techniques and technologies, the physicians at the Center for Endovascular Surgery perform angioplasty following these steps:

• Physicians insert a catheter with an angioplasty balloon at its tip through a tiny incision in the skin of the groin.
• The catheter is then threaded into the femoral artery, a large blood vessel in the leg.
• Using guidance from imaging techniques such as X-rays, the catheter is navigated through the body's circulatory system of blood vessels until the tip of the catheter is positioned within the narrowing of the carotid artery or arteries of the brian.
• Once the catheter is properly positioned, the angioplasty balloon is inflated to open the narrowing.

Sometimes angioplasty is combined with stent technology, a procedure where a small metal mesh is left in the carotid artery or arteries of the brain to keep it propped open.