A coronary stent is a medical device designed to restore and maintain blood flow in coronary arteries that have narrowed or become blocked due to coronary artery disease.
What Is a Coronary Stent?
A coronary stent is a cylindrical metallic mesh prosthesis mounted on a balloon. When inflated at the site of the blockage, the balloon expands the stent, restoring the artery’s diameter and normalizing blood circulation.
Stents are used during a coronary angioplasty—also known as a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)—to prevent life-threatening conditions such as angina or myocardial infarction (heart attack).
What Is an Angioplasty?
An angioplasty is a procedure aimed at opening heart arteries that are blocked due to atherosclerosis.
Angioplasties help relieve symptoms caused by blocked arteries, such as chest pain and shortness of breath. During a heart attack, an angioplasty can rapidly reopen a blocked artery, significantly reducing potential damage to the heart muscle.
This procedure is performed in a cardiac catheterization lab (cath lab). The physician guides the coronary stent through the clogged artery to the exact location of the blockage. A small balloon is then inflated to expand the stent and clear the obstruction. Thanks to the stent’s mesh structure, the risk of the artery reclosing is minimized.
Types of Stents
Coronary stents are categorized into three main types. The choice of stent depends on the patient’s individual clinical profile, including factors such as diabetes, bleeding risk, and the nature of the coronary lesions:
- Bare-Metal Stents (BMS): Made of stainless steel or cobalt-chromium, these are the simplest stents. However, they carry a higher risk of re-blockage (restenosis). Careful monitoring is required to prevent stent thrombosis (blood clots).
- Drug-Eluting Stents (DES): Coated with antiproliferative medication, these stents slowly release drugs to prevent scar tissue growth and minimize the risk of re-blockage. Due to their design, they typically require a longer course of dual antiplatelet therapy (blood thinners).
- Bioresorbable Drug-Eluting Stents (BVS): Made from materials that dissolve over time, these stents eventually disappear completely from the arterial wall. Because of technical limitations, they are only used in specific clinical cases.
How Long Does a Coronary Stent Last?
Generally, a coronary stent is implanted to stay in place permanently; it does not have an expiration date and is not meant to be replaced. However, there is always a small risk of re-blockage over time.
Today’s latest-generation stents, combined with modern medications, have significantly lowered the rate of secondary blockages.
If a stent does become blocked, it is not removed. Instead, the physician performs a new catheterization to dilate the existing stent or place a second stent inside the original one (a "stent-in-stent" procedure), depending on the patient’s specific needs.
At the Cardiac Catheterization Unit at Centro Médico ABC, we offer specialized cardiovascular care. Contact us today!
