Minimally invasive, catheter-based therapies -- balloon angioplasty and stenting -- have revolutionized the treatment of coronary artery disease.

Using the body's highway of blood vessels to perform procedures that once required open surgery has great advantages for patients -- often less pain, less risk, quicker recovery and lower cost.

The accumulation of plaque that occurs in the coronaries is an on-going disease process that can occur in blood vessels throughout the body. (In fact, many patients treated for coronary artery disease already have or will develop blockages elsewhere.)

Less invasive therapies are now being used to open blockages in the vital carotid artery that leads to the brain, to remove blockages in the renal arteries that jeopardize kidney function, and to treat painful blockages in the peripheral arteries of the legs.

Catheter-based procedures increasingly are being employed not only to treat atherosclerosis throughout the body, but also to deliver new, targeted medications. For example, medications are coated on drug-eluting heart stents to reduce restenosis and inflammation.

Catheters, thread through the arterial system, are also being used to perform complex procedures in hard-to-access parts of the body, such as repair of aortic heart valves, treatment of brain aneurysm and treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm, a life-threatening condition.

This is a rapidly evolving field and it is expected that there will be many exciting new applications of minimally invasive treatments in the future.

Why This Site?

Vascular therapy entails not only new types of treatments, but in fact represents a new field of medicine. Vascular therapists breach traditional disciplinary boundries: cardiologists, surgeons and radiologists all are beginning to perform endovascular procedures. New medical technologies will require innovative thinking and collaborative change in the professions.

vasculartherapy.org
will provide information and news about break- throughs in the rapidly changing field of endovascular therapy. Our goal is to give physicians and patients access to the latest research, provide information about treatments and techniques, and raise awareness of the opportunities and challenges presented by these new less invasive technologies.