Patient Education

Coronary artery disease (CAD) develops when the blood vessels that supply blood, oxygen, and nutrients to your heart (coronary arteries) become diseased and narrowed, often leading to a decrease in blood flow to your heart.²

The most common symptoms of CAD include chest pain, pressure or tightness, and shortness of breath. A complete blockage can cause a heart attack. Sometimes there are no symptoms.²

CAD is the most common type of heart disease, affecting more than 16 million Americans.³

Treatment for CAD can include:⁴

Lifestyle changes

• Quitting smoking
• Exercising
• Controlling weight
• Eating healthy
• Reducing stress

Medications

• Cholesterol-modifying medications
• Blood thinners
• Beta blockers
• Calcium channel blockers
• Medications to control chest pain

Medical procedures

• Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), sometimes called angioplasty with a stent, is a minimally invasive procedure. In this procedure, the doctor inserts a catheter (long, thin tube) into the narrowed part of your artery. A wire with a deflated balloon is inflated to push the blockage aside. Often, a coronary stent—a small, metal structure—is placed in your artery to help keep your narrowed artery open.
• Bypass surgery is usually reserved for patients with multiple narrowed arteries. In this procedure, the surgeon takes a blood vessel from another part of the body and creates a graft to bypass the blocked artery. This allows blood to flow around the obstruction.

If you have symptoms of CAD, a coronary angiogram may be used to determine if there is a blockage in your coronary artery. An angiogram is a diagnostic procedure that uses X-rays to make the coronary arteries visible on a screen.⁵

The doctor then visually reviews the images to assess the severity of the narrowing and decide the best treatment option.

Angiograms are:

• 2D, black and white images, which can be difficult to see how narrowed an artery may be.
• Unable to show how much blood flow is blocked. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows angiograms result in stenting significantly more than is needed.¹

Often, physicians rely only on angiograms to determine whether a stent is needed. Because visualizing the degree of stenosis by the naked eye alone is not good enough, that’s where the FFRangio System comes in.

Getting a coronary stent is an important decision. A stent may be helpful for some, but unnecessary for others. The CathWorks FFRangio^® System is a noninvasive diagnostic tool that works with the angiogram images to create a 3D model of your arteries. The system then evaluates the 3D model for blockages that may need treatment. This gives your doctor the information needed to make the best treatment decision, including whether a coronary stent is needed.

Since the FFRangio System works with your scheduled angiogram procedure, the use of it comes with no additional procedures or risk.