Coronary Stents

A coronary stent is a stainless steel wire mesh tube that is placed on a balloon catheter in a collapsed state that is inserted into the blocked coronary artery.  Once the stent is in place, the balloon is inflated causing the stent to expand pushing against the interior wall of the coronary artery.  The balloon holds the artery open improving blood flow and relieving the patient's symptoms.

In recent years, new and better stents have been developed due to problems of restenosis (reblock) in the original stents.  The newest stents are drug-eluting and are coated with medications that slowly release to help prevent restenosis.  A stent is used in about 70-80% of angioplasties today.