Angiojet
Some patients with severe blockages of their coronary arteries can develop a blood clot within the vessel. Preventing this blood clot from traveling through the coronary artery to the heart muscle and causing a heart attack has been a challenge. The Angiojet technology uses suction to effectively remove the clot and other debris within the coronary artery. This limits the chance of material drifting downstream into the heart muscle and causing a heart attack.

Cardiologists at St. Clair Hospital are using this FDA approved catheter procedure to remove clots from patient's coronary arteries. The procedure uses a device called the Angiojet System, which is designed to remove soft, spongy clots from coronary arteries be delivering jets of pressurized saline solution through the opening in the tip of a catheter fed directly through the heart to the site of a blood clot. The pressurized saline dissolves the clot into small fragments and is suctioned back through the catheter, removing most of the debris from the bloodstream. The procedure takes place in the cardiac cath lab and typically requires less than a one-day admission for the patient.

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