Angioplasty Recovery: What to Expect Afterwards

The first 24 hours

You will be monitored on a ward or in the coronary care area. Staff check your heart rhythm, blood pressure and the puncture site regularly.

If access was through the wrist, you can usually sit up and move around within a few hours. If it was through the groin, you will be asked to lie flat with the leg straight for several hours to reduce the risk of bleeding — uncomfortable, but short-lived.

Drink fluids as encouraged: the contrast dye used during the procedure is cleared by the kidneys, and fluids help.

Most people go home within a day or two after a planned procedure. After angioplasty for a heart attack, the stay is longer because the heart itself needs monitoring.

Looking after the access site

• Keep it clean and dry. Follow the specific instructions you are given about dressings.
• Expect some bruising, and a small firm lump. Both usually settle over a couple of weeks.
• Avoid lifting anything heavy with that arm, or straining, for the first few days.
• No swimming or soaking in a bath until it has fully healed. Showering is generally fine once you have been told it is.

The first week

Tiredness is normal, even though the procedure itself was short. Walk a little each day and increase gradually rather than resting completely.

Avoid heavy lifting, strenuous exertion and driving. If you had a heart attack, your recovery pace will be set by the damage to the heart muscle rather than by the stent.

Take all your medication exactly as prescribed, starting the day you get home.

Returning to work, driving and exercise

These are typical guides — your cardiologist will give you figures for your own case.

• Office work: commonly within a week after a planned procedure
• Manual or heavy work: usually longer, and worth discussing specifically
• Driving: typically after about a week for a planned procedure, longer after a heart attack. Check your insurance position as well as the medical advice
• Exercise: start with walking. Structured cardiac rehabilitation, where available, is one of the most effective things you can do afterwards
• Sexual activity: generally fine once you can comfortably climb two flights of stairs. Ask — it is a normal question and doctors expect it

Why the medication is not optional

This is the single most important part of this page.

After a stent is placed, you will be prescribed blood-thinning medication — usually two drugs — for a defined period. Stopping it early significantly increases the risk of a clot forming inside the stent, which can cause a heart attack.

Do not stop it because you feel well. Do not stop it before dental work or another operation without asking your cardiologist first. If a different doctor asks you to stop it, tell them you have a stent and ask them to speak to your cardiologist.

You will also likely be on medication for cholesterol and blood pressure. Angioplasty treated one blockage; those drugs protect every other artery you have.

Warning signs to come back for

Contact the hospital or come in if you notice:

• Chest pain returning, particularly if it feels like the pain you had before — come to emergency
• Sudden breathlessness
• Bleeding from the access site that does not stop with firm pressure — apply pressure and come in
• The site becoming increasingly swollen, painful, red or hot
• A rapidly expanding lump at the site
• Fever
• The hand or leg beyond the site becoming cold, pale or numb

A stent is not a cure for heart disease. What happens over the next decade depends far more on blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, smoking and activity than on the metal in your artery.