Heart specialists perform more than a million angioplasty procedures a year in this country to re-open blocked arteries. The procedure is certainly nothing new to heart specialists, but a clinical trial just concluded at the OU MEDICAL CENTER may point to a way to make it even more effective.

Angioplasty utilizes a tiny balloon at the end of a snake-like device, which is moved into place, then inflated to re-open a narrowed artery. After the artery is re-opened, a tiny metal scaffold called a stent is usually also placed to help ensure the vessel remains open.

Now, a new device utilized as part of a clinical trial at the OU MEDICAL CENTER may help provide extra insurance against re-narrowing. The Angiosculpt Scoring Balloon Catheter is engineered to do just what its name implies. It is a balloon surrounded by tiny metal bands designed to score the plaque build-up inside the artery as the balloon is inflated.

“By using these balloons instead of crushing the blockages, that’s what we usually do with balloons alone, we are causing a more controlled damaging of the artery wall that hopefully will also lead to less scar tissue,” explained Jorge Saucedo, M.D. and an OU Physicians heart specialist. Saucedo says that, in turn, would mean less chance of re-narrowing inside the newly placed stent. Re-narrowing can occur when scar tissue builds up inside the stent.

Interestingly, the new Angiosculpt Scoring Balloon may also help specialists better treat blockages within stents should they occur. That’s because the scar tissue that grows inside a stent is quite slippery and difficult to treat with a standard angioplasty balloon.

“When we advance the balloon and inflate the balloon, the balloon tends to move back and forth quite a bit. We often call that a watermelon-ing effect,” said Saucedo. “You know it goes back and forth and you cannot precisely place the balloon inside the stent without the balloon moving.”

Researchers hope to learn whether the metal bands of the Angiosculpt Scoring Balloon can help hold the balloon in place inside the stent as the balloon is inflated.

“So we’re going to look at the balloon not moving, staying still and how successful we are in opening the blockage within the stent,” said Saucedo.

The work of Dr. Saucedo and his colleagues will help evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the Angiosculpt Scoring Balloon. The OU MEDICAL CENTER was one of only a handful of sites in the nation selected to participate.

The clinical trial is currently closed and results are being evaluated. According to Saucedo, the results should be available in the near future.