First-of-its-kind treatment option for advanced heart disease now available at Stillwater Medical's Heart & Vascular Institute

IVL is a novel application of lithotripsy, an approach that has been used for decades to safely break up kidney stones. It’s now available to treat problematic calcium in the coronary arteries that can reduce blood flow in the heart.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. Each year, more than 600,000 people in the United States die of the condition. As people with heart disease grow older and their disease progresses, plaque in the arteries evolves into calcium deposits, which can narrow the artery. Physicians often use stents to open an artery, and of the approximately one million patients that undergo a stent procedure each year, 30 percent have problematic calcium that increases their risk for adverse events.

Calcium makes the artery rigid and more difficult to treat with current technologies, and can result in complications for patients who are undergoing stent procedures. Stillwater Medical now offers a new technology, intravascular lithotripsy or IVL, allowing physicians to safely fracture problematic calcium - using sonic pressure waves - so that the artery can be expanded, and blood flow is restored with the placement of a stent and without unnecessary complications.

Contact a physician to learn more.

Call (405) 533-3010 to schedule an appointment with a member of our cardiology team for more information.