In three separate procedures, Dr. Shishehbor used a balloon embedded with a wire that cuts through calcified plaque and implanted two stents to prop open a small artery in Mr. Swartz's foot.
They ended up producing a flexible catheter tube that goes a bit of the way up the nostrils, then a guide wire is inserted into the targeted sinus. (In live patients this is done via an endoscope and fluoroscope.) A balloon catheter is advanced over the guide wire and positioned against the blocked ostium.