Balloons and Percutaneous Transluminal Balloon Angioplasty
摘要
Percutaneous transluminal balloon angioplasty represents the basic endovascular technique for the treatment of arterial or venous stenoses. A balloon catheter consists of two basic components, the shaft and the balloon, the construction of which imparts the basic characteristics of the balloon catheter, namely the profile, inflation and deflation time, compliance, trackability, pushability and crossability. The technique of balloon angioplasty includes three basic steps: vascular access, lesion crossing and balloon angioplasty, which causes overstretching of the arterial wall, beyond the point of elastic return. Complications are not frequent and are divided into access site complications, such as hematoma, pseudoaneurysm, arteriovenous fistula and thrombosis, and angioplasty site complications, such as dissection, embolization and rupture.