Stent

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Coronary artery balloon angioplasty - series

Coronary artery stent

A stent is a tiny metal or plastic tube. A stent is placed into an artery, blood vessel, or other duct (such as one that carries urine) to hold the structure open.

Drug-eluting stents

Stents are most often used to treat conditions that result when arteries narrow or become blocked. They are also used to unblock and keep open other tube-shaped structures in the body, including the ureters (the tubes that drain urine from the kidneys to the bladder) and bronchi (the small windpipes in the lungs).

Stenting (the implantation of a stent) for the treatment of coronary artery disease is a common procedure. An intraluminal coronary artery stent is a small, self-expanding, metal mesh tube that is placed inside a coronary artery after balloon angioplasty to prevent the artery from reclosing (restenosis). A drug-eluting stent is coated with medicine (sirolimus or paclitaxel) that helps further prevent the arteries from re-closing. Like other coronary stents, it is left permanently in the artery.

There are many uses for stents. A few include:

• Keeping the ureters open if they are blocked or damaged
• Coronary atherosclerotic disease (CAD)
• Endovascular stent grafting used to treat aneurysms, including thoracic aortic aneurysms
• Unblocking large arteries throughout the body, such as the carotid artery (carotid endarterectomy)
• To keep bile flowing in the bile ducts if they are blocked (biliary stricture)
• Maintaining air flow in the bronchi if they are obstructed (for example, by a tumor)

Review Date: 07/05/2006
Reviewed By: Frederic F. Little, M.D., Department of Allergy and Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.