A stent is a small, hollow, expandable tube made of metal mesh that is placed inside a blood vessel to hold it open and prevent it from narrowing or collapsing. In cardiovascular medicine, coronary stents are used to treat blocked or narrowed coronary arteries, typically during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
During PCI, a balloon catheter is threaded through a blood vessel to the site of the coronary narrowing. The stent (mounted on the balloon in a collapsed state) is positioned at the blockage; when the balloon is inflated, it expands the stent against the artery wall, compressing the plaque and opening the vessel. The balloon is then deflated and withdrawn, leaving the stent permanently in place as a scaffold that keeps the artery open.
Modern coronary stents are almost exclusively drug-eluting stents (DES), coated with a medication released slowly from the stent surface over weeks to months. This medication (typically an antiproliferative agent such as everolimus or zotarolimus) significantly reduces the risk of in-stent restenosis (re-narrowing due to cell overgrowth within the stent), which was a major problem with earlier bare-metal stents.
After coronary stent implantation, patients are prescribed dual antiplatelet therapy (usually aspirin plus a P2Y12 inhibitor such as ticagrelor or clopidogrel) to prevent stent thrombosis while the artery heals. The duration (typically 6 to 12 months) is determined by the clinical situation and must not be stopped without medical advice, as premature cessation carries a significant risk of stent thrombosis and heart attack.
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