If you have a blocked heart artery, you might be wondering whether you need heart surgery or angioplasty. Although both treatments can improve the blood flow to your heart, the process is completely different. During angioplasty, the doctor uses a thin tube and a stent to open a coronary artery that has narrowed. During heart bypass surgery, the doctor will create a new route for blood flow around your blocked arteries. So you should understand the difference clearly before talking to your cardiologist or heart surgeon about treatment.
Heart disease is a serious health problem that’s common worldwide. Nearly 19.8 million people have died globally in 2022 because of cardiovascular diseases. Thus, heart disease is one of the leading causes of death. If you have been diagnosed with coronary artery disease, you must get the right treatment at the right time.
What Is Angioplasty?
Angioplasty is a simple and minimally invasive process in which doctors will improve blood flow by opening a narrowed or blocked artery. They will guide a thin catheter through a blood vessel, often from your wrist or groin towards the affected artery. Then, they might inflate a small balloon at the narrowed area to improve the opening of blocked arteries. For most patients, the doctor uses a small mesh tube, which is called a stent, to help keep the artery open.
During angioplasty, the doctors don’t need to open the chest. Thus, you can notice much quicker recovery compared to after bypass surgery. In fact, most patients can leave the hospital the same day or the following day if the angioplasty treatment was planned and uncomplicated. But you might have to stay a little longer depending on your condition and the complexity of the angioplasty procedure.
What Is Heart Surgery?
Compared to angioplasty, heart bypass surgery is a major surgical procedure and is also called coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). During this treatment, the surgeon uses a healthy blood vessel from another part of your body while creating a new route around the blocked artery. Your doctor will suggest CABG when you have:
- Several blocked arteries
- Complex heart disease
- Certain patterns of coronary artery disease
In these cases, heart surgery can provide better long-term outcomes.
Imagine the government has asked to create a new road to clear a traffic jam problem. Hence, your heart muscles can get continuous blood flow through this new route.
Heart Surgery vs Angioplasty: At a Glance
| Factor | Angioplasty (PCI) | Bypass Surgery (CABG) |
| How it works | The doctor will open the narrowed artery using a stent. | The surgeon will create a new route around blocked arteries. |
| Type of treatment | Minimally invasive and simple | Major heart surgery |
| Chest opening | Usually, doctors don’t have to open the chest. | Required for traditional CABG |
| Recovery | Generally, patients recover faster. | Generally, patients need a longer time to completely recover. |
| Hospital stay | You can leave the hospital after treatment on the same following day for planned cases. | You have to usually stay for a week. |
| Best suited to | Selected blockages and suitable anatomy | Patients who have some complex heart disease or several blocked arteries |
This table doesn’t give treatment recommendations and is created to provide a general comparison. Before deciding between heart surgery and angioplasty, the doctors must assess your individual condition.
Which Treatment Is Better for You?
There is no treatment option for heart disease or blocked arteries that will suit every patient. Your cardiologist and cardiac surgeon will check the following factors before choosing a treatment option:
- Blockage location
- Number of blocked arteries
- Severity of blockage
- Anatomy
- Symptoms
- Your heart function
- Surgical risk
They will check your age, diabetes status, overall health, and ability to take medicines after treatment before choosing an option.
Based on current guidelines, doctors suggest heart surgery instead of angioplasty if patients have complex left-main coronary artery disease. Also, it’s the right treatment option for diabetic patients or those who have multi-vessel coronary disease.
Doctors will choose angioplasty when the blockage can be fixed with catheter-based treatment. Also, they choose this option during certain heart attacks because patients need blood flow quickly to their heart muscles.
Final Thoughts
Are you dealing with a heart disease and needing specialized cardiac care? Then, you must find brands like ACE Heart & Vascular Institute that give the best cardiothoracic and vascular surgical services. Also, they have qualified surgeons who have helped several patients restore normal arteries by improving blood flow to the heart muscles.