PCI requires cardiac catheterization, which is the insertion of a catheter tube and injection of contrast dye, usually iodine-based, into your coronary arteries. Doctors use PCI to open coronary arteries that are narrowed or blocked by the build-up of atherosclerotic plaque. PCI can be used to relieve symptoms of coronary artery disease or to reduce heart damage during or after a heart attack.

A cardiologist, or a doctor who specializes in the heart, will perform PCI in a hospital cardiac catheterization lab. You stay awake, but you are given medication to relax. Before your procedure, you will be given medicine through an intravenous (IV) line in your arm to prevent blood clots. Your doctor will clean and numb an area on the wrist or groin where your doctor will make a small hole and insert the catheter into your blood vessel. Live X-rays help your doctor guide the catheter into your heart to inject special contrast dye that will highlight the blockage. To open a blocked artery, your doctor will insert another catheter over a guidewire and inflate a balloon at the tip of that catheter. Your doctor can place a small mesh tube called a stent into your artery to keep the artery open.

After PCI, your doctor will remove the catheters and close and bandage the opening on your wrist or groin. You may bruise and experience pain where the catheters are inserted. It is also common to have discomfort or bleeding where the catheters were inserted. You recover for a few hours or overnight in a special ward of the hospital. You will be given instructions on how much activity to do and what medications to take. You need to be transported home because of the medicines or anesthetics you have received. Your doctor will monitor your progress at a follow-up visit. When implanting a stent, you must use special anti-clotting medications exactly as prescribed, usually for at least three to 12 months.

Serious complications from PCI are uncommon, but they can occur. These complications can include bleeding, damage to blood vessels, a treatable allergic reaction to the contrast dye, the need for emergency coronary artery transplantation during the procedure, arrhythmias, damaged arteries, kidney damage, heart attack, stroke, or blood clots. Sometimes chest pain can occur during PCI because the balloon momentarily blocks blood flow to the heart. Restenosis, or regrowth of tissue in the treated area of ​​the artery, can occur in the following months and cause the artery to narrow or become blocked again. The risk of complications is higher if you are older, have chronic kidney disease, have heart failure at the time of the procedure, or if you have extensive heart disease and multiple blockages in your coronary arteries.