(Iowa City, IA) -- University of Iowa Health Care is the first hospital in the state, to use sonic pressure to break up plaque in heart arteries. The F-D-A okayed the lithotripsy heart procedure last month. It's used to treat severely calcified coronary artery disease. The procedure uses sonic pressure waves to break up calcium. The patient feels no discomfort from the treatment.
Dr. James Rossen, the lead cardiologist on the team that completed the first lithotripsy procedure says candidates for the procedure may have narrowing or blockages of the arteries, or severe heart muscle weakness.
“When severe calcification is present in the main artery, bypass surgery, an alternative to stents, is not always feasible,” says Rossen. “Other treatments to remove calcium have a higher risk for complications, potentially leading to blockage of one of the major branch arteries. The lithotripsy procedure allows us to treat the severe calcium prior to insertion of stents in the main artery and both branches, reducing the risk of a complex surgery.”
The lithotripsy procedure is performed using a catheter that is threaded from the wrist or leg artery to the problem area.
Lithotripsy has long been used as a procedure to break up gallstones, kidney stones, and pancreatic stones.