A 56 yr old businessman had been experiencing intermittent burning chest pain under stress. He described these symptoms to his GP, who referred him on to the team at Exeter Heart. We offered him an appointment for the following day.
Same-day investigations with us raised concerns and we proceeded to CT angiography, a non-invasive test to assess the coronary arteries. This showed a severe narrowing of the artery at the front of the heart (picture right).
We then proceeded to conventional coronary angiography, a local anaesthetic procedure which gives highly detailed information on the status of the heart’s blood supply. This confirmed the findings of the CT angiogram and allowed us to plan treatments.
The patient’s symptoms had not responded to drug treatment and so we proceeded to stent the artery with metal scaffolding, restoring normal blood flow. The patient was talking to us throughout the procedure and went home the following day, with no recurrence of symptoms.