First introduced in 1993, a rotablator is a miniature drill capped with an abrasive, diamond-studded burr. The rotablator is used in a type of catheter-based procedure called rotational atherectomy.

Rotational atherectomy is a minimally invasive treatment that is sometimes used to pulverize hardened plaque within a coronary artery. During rotational atherectomy, the rotablator is guided to the blockage via a catheter – a thin, flexible, hollow plastic tube small enough to be threaded through a blood vessel.