Orbital atherectomy is another technique to treat calcified coronary arteries during angioplasty with stents. Calcium inside the coronary blood vessel is considered as an “Achilles Heel” in interventional cardiology. With the introduction of technologies like this, the treatment for calcium in coronary arteries has been eased for the cardiologists.
Orbital atherectomy is a newer drilling technique which involves introduction of a small crown like drill inside the blood vessel via wrist (radial) or the upper part of thigh (femoral). This breaks the calcium by rotating in an orbital fashion- approximately 80,000 to 1.2 Lakh rpm inside the blood vessel. This technique is particularly useful in large sized coronary arteries as the rotational motion is orbital in nature (covering larger diameter) unlike the “rotablation” where the drill works only along the side of the wire inside the blood vessel. By doing this it opens the blockage and then help us to deliver the stent at the level of blockages.