percutaneous coronary intervention
Percutaneous coronary intervention, or PCI, also known as an angioplasty, is a medical procedure in which a balloon is used to open narrowed or blocked blood vessels of the heart (coronary arteries). With a percutaneous coronary intervention, a catheter with a deflated balloon on its tip is passed into the narrowed artery segment, the balloon is inflated and the narrowed segment widened. Then the balloon is deflated and the catheter is removed.
