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

Etymology

Origin of angioplasty

angio- + -plasty

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

Since then he’s been kept alive by internal devices, stents, angioplasty surgery, a sextuple bypass surgery and multiple ablation procedures.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 27, 2023

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

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2022

There, Bhalla performed angioplasty and implanted a stent.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

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

After spending years as UW Health’s chief of cardiology, replacing heart valves and doing angioplasties to clear blocked arteries, Wolff has undergone a major procedure himself: a heart-kidney transplant.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 6, 2021

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

Federal regulators had accused the doctors and the hospital of performing unnecessary procedures known as angioplasties, in which a clogged blood vessel is opened.

From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2013

More than 54,000 angioplasties, which are performed through small tubes and are not surgical procedures, were performed in New York from 2008 through 2010.

From US News ● Oct. 18, 2012