A balloon repair of a heart vessel or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty
(PTCA) is performed on patients with heart (coronary) artery disease. PTCA involves threading a catheter (or balloon-tipped tube) from an artery in the groin to a trouble spot in an artery of the heart. The balloon is inflated so that the narrowed heart (coronary) artery can widen and allow blood to flow more easily.

PTCA may be used to treat:

?  Persistent chest pain (angina)

?  Blockage of one or more heart (coronary) arteries

?  Blockage in a heart (coronary) artery during or after a heart attack

PTCA is a relatively common procedure that requires expertise with the use of complex equipment; technical errors while using the equipment may lead to clinically significant complications. Better processes of care in the hospital may reduce the risk of death (mortality) from PTCA.

A hospital that performs a higher volume of PTCA may have more expertise with those procedures, which may result in less of a likelihood of complications. Therefore, a hospital that performs more PTCA may have better outcomes for patients that undergo this procedure. The PTCA volume measure should be used in conjunction with the PTCA mortality measure.