Jennifer Matthews: Each year, more than one million people in the United States will undergo angioplasty to open a blocked artery. Last year, Harry Linton had shortness of breath, indigestion and chest pain - all symptoms of a heart attack.
Harry Linton: Pretty much in disbelief until I found out I had 98% blockage in one of my main arteries.
Jennifer Matthews: Angioplasty cleared the blockage, but some patients aren't fortunate enough to be helped by the standard technique. Lamaris Simons joined a research study at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston to receive a new type of angioplasty using a laser. It starts like standard angioplasty by feeding a tube into the blocked artery, but instead of using balloons or stents to open the blockage, a laser destroys the plaque.
Dr. Christopher Nielsen: The difference with the laser is that it actually gets rid of the plaque, turns it into molecular elements that just flow away in the blood.
Jennifer Matthews: Doctor Christopher Nielsen can actually see the results on this monitor.
Dr. Christopher Nielsen: And you can see this artery is nice and full of dye here and then there's this area of open space that's the very tight blockage.
Jennifer Matthews: After the laser is used, blood flow is restored.
Dr. Christopher Nielsen: In the patients that need to have a blockage taken out, this is a perfect technology.
Jennifer Matthews: A new tool that's helping to put all heart patients back on track. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
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