What Is a Stent? A stent is a small mesh tube thats used to treat narrow or weak arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from your heart to other parts of your body. A stent is placed in an artery as part of a procedure called percutaneous (per-ku-TA-ne-us) coronary intervention (PCI), sometimes referred to as coronary angioplasty (AN-jee-oh-plas-tee). PCI restores blood flow through narrow or blocked arteries. A stent helps support the inner wall of the artery in the months or years after PCI. Doctors also may place stents in weak arteries to improve blood flow and help prevent the arteries from bursting. Stents usually are made of metal mesh, but sometimes theyre made of fabric. Fabric stents, also called stent grafts, are used in larger arteries. Some stents are coated with medicine that is slowly and continuously released into the artery. These stents are called drug-eluting stents. The medicine helps prevent the artery from becoming blocked again
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 01:55:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015