| | | | | open an artery during angioplasty. The stent is |
| Cardiology has come a long way over the | | | | collapsed to a small diameter and put over a |
| decades with huge advances having been made in | | | | balloon catheter. It's then moved into the area of |
| areas such as invasive surgery and interventional | | | | the blockage. When the balloon is inflated, the |
| cardiology. As a result cardiac patients have had | | | | stent expands, locks in place and forms a |
| the option of undergoing preventive measures | | | | scaffold. This holds the artery open. The stent |
| against what could otherwise result in serious | | | | stays in the artery permanently, holds it open, |
| complications with angioplasty. In this sphere of | | | | improves blood flow to the heart muscle and |
| invasive surgery, the "Coronary Stent" has been | | | | relieves symptoms (usually chest pain). Within a |
| one of the most significant innovations. Little over | | | | few weeks of the time the stent was placed, the |
| 20 years on and advances in the coronary stent | | | | inside lining of the artery (the endothelium) grows |
| in terms of material research and coatings still | | | | over the metal surface of the stent. |
| continues. The patent filings related to innovations | | | | Stents are used depending on certain features of |
| around the coronary stent can reveal some great | | | | the artery blockage. This includes the size of the |
| insights into this breakthrough in medicine. | | | | artery and where the blockage is. Stenting is a |
| | | | | fairly common procedure; in fact, over 70 |
| Overview | | | | percent of coronary angioplasty procedures also |
| Introduction to the Coronary Stent | | | | include stenting. Click Here to read more... |
| A stent is a wire metal mesh tube used to prop | | | | |