angioplasty

American  

[an-jee-uh-plas-tee] / ˈæn dʒi əˌplæs ti /

noun

Surgery.

• angioplasties
  plural

1. the repair of a blood vessel, as by inserting a balloon-tipped catheter to unclog it or by replacing part of the vessel with either a piece of the patient's own tissue or a prosthetic device.

   coronary angioplasty to widen an artery blocked by plaque.

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angioplasty British  

/ ˈændʒɪəˌplæstɪ /

noun

1. a surgical technique for restoring normal blood flow through an artery narrowed or blocked by atherosclerosis, either by inserting a balloon into the narrowed section and inflating it or by using a laser beam

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angioplasty Scientific  

/ ăn′jē-ə-plăs′tē /

1. The surgical repair of a blood vessel, such as an obstructed coronary artery, usually by inflating a small balloon at the end of a catheter.

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angioplasty Cultural  

1. A surgical technique in which a catheter containing a small balloon is inserted into arteries around the heart. The balloon is inflated to compress deposits of fatty substances blocking the artery, thereby restoring the flow of blood.

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Discover More

Also called balloon therapy.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• angioplasties
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of angioplasty

angio- + -plasty

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

angioplasty angioplasties

There’s no way my dad and my mom paid enough into Medicare to cover my dad’s six months in long-term critical care, multiple angioplasty procedures and stroke.

From MarketWatch ● May 7, 2026

That challenge pushed the researchers toward a different idea: a biomaterial that could be infused into a blood vessel in the heart during procedures such as angioplasty or stenting, or delivered through an IV.

From Science Daily ● May 5, 2026

Over the past year, he had to raise thousands of dollars through an aid organization to pay full-price for an angioplasty to remove plaque from his arteries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2023

She had an angioplasty, where a balloon was used to stretch open a narrow artery.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2022

Fear that your children will find you dead on the bathroom floor of a heart attack if you do not have angioplasty surgery.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

He would undergo multiple surgeries, including a quadruple bypass, two angioplasties, installation of a heart pump and — in 2012 — a transplant.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2025

It certainly added a tad bit of sophistication to a stretch of highway mainly known as a source of heartburn and future angioplasties.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 13, 2019

Of course, as Baier notes, the treatment choices were limited at the time—Snyder could not have performed the dramatic artery-opening bypasses, angioplasties, and stents of today even if he had wanted to.

From Slate ● Jan. 19, 2017

Mr. Loughner, who will receive $660,859 from the settlement for alerting the government, described how doctors urged nurses and others to falsify complaints of chest pain to justify the unnecessary angioplasties.

From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2013

Studies have shown that 20 percent to 40 percent of the angioplasties done in New York hospitals are inappropriate, says state health commissioner Nirav Shah.

From US News ● Oct. 18, 2012

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