Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
How you prepare
By Mayo Clinic staffBefore a scheduled angioplasty, your doctor reviews your medical history and performs a physical exam. You may also undergo one or more of the following examinations before an angioplasty and stenting procedure:
- Ultrasound. A scanner is passed over the carotid artery to produce images (using sound waves) of the narrowed artery and of the blood flow to the brain.
- Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) or computerzied tomography angiography (CTA). These exams provide highly detailed images of blood vessels by using either radiofrequency waves in a magnetic field or by using X-rays.
- Carotid angiography. During this exam, contrast material (visible on X-rays) is injected into an artery so that vessels can be seen and examined.
You'll receive instructions on what you can or can't eat or drink before angioplasty. Your preparation may be different if you're already staying at the hospital before your procedure.
The night before your procedure:
- Follow your doctor's instructions about adjusting your current medications. Your doctor may instruct you to stop taking certain medications before angioplasty, particularly if you take certain diabetes medications or blood thinners.
- Take approved medications with only small sips of water.
- Arrange for transportation home. Angioplasty usually requires an overnight hospital stay, and you won't be able to drive yourself home the next day because of lingering effects of the sedative.
- Lanzino G, et al. Treatment of carotid artery stenosis: Medical therapy, surgery or stenting? Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2009;84:362.
- Greelish JP, et al. Carotid angioplasty and stenting. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 9, 2009.
- Riles TS, et al. Cerebrovascular disease. In: Townsend CM Jr, et al. Sabiston Textbook of Surgery. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Elsevier Saunders; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/130704983-4/0/1565/619.html?tocnode=54739952&fromURL=619.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-3675-3..50068-X_3758. Accessed April 9, 2009.
- Sacco RL, et al. Primary prevention of ischemic stroke. Stroke. 2006;37:577.
- Angioplasty and vascular stenting. Radiological Society of North America. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=angioplasty. Accessed April 10, 2009.
- Carotid artery disease. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/catd/catd_all.html. Accessed April 14, 2009.
