Many patients suffering from coronary artery disease have heavily calcified coronary artery blocks. Though with advanced techniques, some of these patients can undergo bypass surgery but morbidity is too high, especially in the elderly patients and it takes a long time for them to recover. Many of the patients are not fit for surgery because of poor general condition, weak bones and other co-morbidities like bad lungs. For such patients, Rotational Atherectomy, or simply explained as ‘cutting through the calcium’, comes as a blessing. Senior Interventional Cardiologist, SUM Ultimate Medicare, Bhubaneswar, Dr Sarat Kumar Sahoo says, “I have seen in our practice that with the help of Rotational Atherectomy, we can save most of the patients from bypass surgery. The Rotablation device used in the Atherectomy has a burr embedded with millions of diamond crystals.
The burr is rotated at the speed of 150,000 to 200,000 revolutions per minute and cuts the calcium just like how a diamond cuts through the glass.
Once the calcium is removed, the stenting is performed with excellent results.” With new advancements in technology for treating artery blockages in the heart, it is advisable to use Drug Eluting Stents (DES) which are well studied in a broad spectrum of patients across countries and have large clinical data of patients. The latest generation Platinum Chromium Stents helps in optimizing PCI results and providing better patient outcomes.
There are numerous examples where patients with large calcium deposits in the arteries were referred to for bypass surgeries as they are found unfit for stenting procedures.
In such cases modification of the blockage or rotablation proves to be an excellent solution as by using this treatment route, the stenting in all the arteries can be done with higher success.