percutaneous coronary intervention

noun

: balloon angioplasty of a coronary artery : percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty

broadly : any procedure that is performed to widen the lumen of an obstructed coronary artery and involves passing a catheter through the skin and into a blood vessel (as of the groin) to the site of obstruction so the blockage can be compressed (as by use of a balloon catheter often followed by placement of a stent) or removed (as by atherectomy)

—abbreviation PCI