Procedures

A surgeon or interventional cardiologist may conduct procedures or surgeries to keep the heart pumping or to clear the arteries of any blockages, including:

• Balloon angioplasty: The interventional cardiologist inserts a special catheter (thin, flexible tube) with a balloon tip into the blocked blood vessel. The balloon inflates to compress the fatty tissue (plaque) against the vessel’s walls and widen the opening for improved blood flow.
• Stent: After an angioplasty, the interventional cardiologist places a small coil, called a stent, into the blood vessel to keep it open.
• Atherectomy: This procedure removes calcified plaque from a blood vessel by shaving it with tiny rotating blades or vaporizing it using a laser on the end of the catheter.
• Left ventricular assist device (LVAD): If your heart has suffered extensive damage, we may implant a mechanical pump near your heart. This device will help the left ventricle (the heart’s main pumping chamber) pump blood to the rest of the body.

Lifestyle Modifications

In addition to prescribing medication, your provider will discuss building healthy lifestyle habits with you, which can help prevent another heart attack. You may need to:

• Eat more healthfully
• Lose weight
• Limit sodium intake
• Stop smoking
• Reduce stress
• Start exercising

Severity

Women with heart attacks tend to be older than men, which means they may be more likely to have serious complications or die from the heart attack. Our cardiologists understand this issue so they work to prevent complications, like internal bleeding, and monitor women closely with follow-up care. We also understand that young women are more likely to die from a heart attack than men of the same age. We take heart attacks in young women very seriously and use advanced techniques to rapidly diagnose and treat them.

Treatment approach

At Stanford, our cardiologists mostly use radial artery catheterization (inserting a tube into the artery of the wrist) to diagnose and treat a heart attack, as opposed to catheterization in the groin artery. This method can help people recover more quickly and can minimize internal bleeding, a potentially dangerous heart attack complication that is more common in women than men.

Some centers are hesitant to use the radial approach with women because they have smaller, more delicate vessels in their wrists. However, at Stanford, we perform this less invasive procedure, which provides better results, on both women and men.

Hormones

Women who are on hormone therapy and also have atherosclerosis may be more likely to have a heart attack. Some women may have a unique type of heart attack related to their hormone therapy. For women who are on hormone therapy and have atherosclerosis or have had a heart attack, our cardiologists thoroughly discuss the risks and benefits of continuing with hormone therapy. We work with specialists at our Gynecology Clinic help women find alternative treatments while living their best possible quality of life.