Patient Care – Adult cardiac, endovascular, and thoracic aortic surgery

Patient appointments & physician referrals: please call 210-450-0999.

Coronary arteries – The coronary arteries supply blood to the heart muscle. The right coronary artery supplies both the left and the right heart; the left coronary artery supplies the left heart.

Posterior heart arteries:

Atherosclerosis treatment: To some extent, the body will protect itself by
forming new blood vessels around the affected area. This is called
developing “collaterals”.

Medications may be recommended to reduce fats and cholesterol in your
blood; low-fat diet, weight loss, and exercise are also usually
suggested. Control of high blood pressure is also important.

Medications include cholestyramine, colestipol, nicotinic acid,
gemfibrozil, probucol, atorvastatin, lovastatin and others. Aspirin,
ticlopidine, and clopidogrel (inhibitors of platelet clumping) or
anti-coagulants may be used to reduce the risk of clot formation.

Balloon angioplasty uses a balloon-tipped catheter to flatten plaque and
increase the blood flow past the deposits. The technique is used to open
the arteries of the heart and other arteries in the body. Another widely
used technique is stenting, which consists of implanting a small metal
device inside the artery (usually following angioplasty) to keep the
artery open.

Surgically removing deposits (endarterectomy) may be recommended in
some cases. A bypass graft is the most invasive procedure. It uses a
normal artery or vein from the patient to create a bridge that bypasses
the blocked section of the artery.

Expectations (prognosis): The outcome varies. All people begin to
develop some degree of atherosclerosis as they age, and in some people,
it leads to complications. Heart attack and stroke are complications of
atherosclerosis which can be fatal.