Directional coronary atherectomy (DCA) | 合法醫療器材資訊網

DCA, or directional coronary atherectomy is a minimally invasive procedure to remove blockage from coronary arteries to improve blood flow to the heart muscle and ease pain.

First, a local anesthesia numbs the groin area. Then the doctor puts a needle into the femoral artery, the artery that runs down the leg. The doctor inserts a guide wire through the needle and then removes the needle. He replaces it with an introducer, a tubular instrument with two ports used to insert flexible devices such as a catheter into a blood vessel. Once the introducer is in place, the original guidewire is replaced by a finer wire. This new wire is used to insert a diagnostic catheter, a long flexible tube, into the artery and guide it to the heart. The doctor then removes the second wire.

With the catheter at the opening of one of the coronary arteries, the doctor injects dye and takes an X-ray...