What does stent mean

Preparing for a stent depends on the type of stent being used. Your doctor usually inserts a stent using a minimally invasive procedure. They will make a small incision and use a catheter to guide specialized tools through your blood vessels to reach the area that needs a stent.

This incision is usually in the groin or arm. One of those tools may have a camera on the end to help your doctor guide the stent. During the procedure, your doctor may also use an imaging technique called an angiogram to help guide the stent through the vessel.

Using the necessary tools, your doctor will locate the broken or blocked vessel and install the stent. Then they will remove the instruments from your body and close the incision. Any surgical procedure carries risks. Inserting a stent may require accessing arteries of the heart or brain. This leads to an increased risk of adverse effects. Rare side effects include strokes and seizures. This risk should be discussed with your doctor. Stents have metal components, and some people are allergic or sensitive to metals.

Stent manufacturers recommend that if anyone has a sensitivity to metal, they should not receive a stent.

Speak with your doctor for more information. If you have bleeding issues, you will need to be evaluated by your doctor. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; chap Teirstein PS. Interventional and surgical treatment of coronary artery disease. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. Textor SC. Renovascular hypertension and ischemic nephropathy. Brenner and Rector's The Kidney. White CJ. Atherosclerotic peripheral arterial disease. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

Once the stent has been placed, tissue will start to coat the stent like a layer of skin. The stent will be fully lined with tissue within 3 to 12 months, depending on if the stent has a medicine coating or not. You may be prescribed medicines called antiplatelets to decrease the "stickiness" of platelets.

Platelets are special blood cells that clump together to stop bleeding. The medicine can also prevent blood clots from forming inside the stent. Your healthcare team will give specific instructions on which medicines need to be taken and for how long.

Most stents are coated with medicine to prevent scar tissue from forming inside the stent. These stents are called drug-eluting stents DES. They release medicine within the blood vessel that slows the overgrowth of tissue within the stent. This helps prevent the blood vessel from becoming narrow again. Some stents don't have this medicine coating and are called bare metal stents BMS. They may have higher rates of stenosis, but they don't require long-term use of antiplatelet medicines.

This may be the preferred stent in people who are at high risk of bleeding. Because stents can become blocked, it's important to talk with your healthcare team about what you need to do if you have chest pain after a stent placement. If scar tissue does form inside the stent, you may need a repeat procedure.

This may be using either balloon angioplasty or with a second stent. In some cases, radiation therapy may be given through a catheter placed near the scar tissue to stop the growth of scar tissue and open up the vessel. This is called brachytherapy. Angioplasty is done to restore coronary artery blood flow when the narrowed artery is in a place that can be reached in this manner.

Not all coronary artery disease CAD can be treated with angioplasty. Your doctor will decide the best way to treat your CAD based on your circumstances. Rupture of the coronary artery or complete closing of the coronary artery, needing open-heart surgery. You may want to ask your healthcare team about the amount of radiation used during the procedure and the risks related to your particular situation. It's a good idea to keep a record of your radiation exposure, such as previous scans and other types of X-rays, so that you can tell your healthcare team.

Risks linked to radiation exposure may be related to the total number of X-rays or treatments over a long period. For some people, having to lie still on the procedure table for the length of the procedure may cause some discomfort or pain.

There may be other risks depending on your specific health condition. Discuss any concerns with your healthcare team before the procedure. You will be asked to sign a consent form that gives your permission to do the procedure. Read the form carefully and ask questions if anything is unclear. Tell your healthcare team if you have ever had a reaction to any contrast dye, or if you are allergic to iodine. Tell your healthcare team if you are sensitive to or are allergic to any medicines, latex, tape, and local or general anesthesia.

Tell your healthcare team if you are pregnant or think you could be. Radiation exposure during pregnancy may lead to birth defects. Tell your healthcare team of all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, herbs, and supplements that you are taking. Tell your healthcare team if you have a history of bleeding disorders or if you are taking any blood-thinning medicines anticoagulant or antiplatelet , aspirin, or other medicines that affect blood clotting.

You may need to stop some of these medicines before the procedure. But for planned angioplasty procedures, your doctor may want you to continue taking aspirin and antiplatelet medicines, so be sure to ask. Your provider may request a blood test before the procedure to find out how long it takes your blood to clot.

Other blood tests may be done as well. Once a drug-eluting stent is in place, the medication is released over time into the area most likely to become blocked again.

The 2 most researched types of medication are:. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence NICE recommends that drug-eluting stents should be considered if the artery being treated is less than 3mm in diameter or the affected section of the artery is longer than 15mm, because evidence suggests the risk of re-narrowing is highest in these cases.

Before your procedure, discuss the benefits and risks of each type of stent with your cardiologist. If you have a stent, you'll also need to take certain medications to help reduce the risk of blood clots forming around the stent. These include:. You can choose where to have your treatment.

Ask your GP if they can recommend a hospital with experienced cardiology staff who perform large numbers of angioplasties each year.

The cardiologist that carries out the procedure is a specialist known as an "interventional cardiologist". Page last reviewed: 28 August Next review due: 28 August The operation A coronary angioplasty usually takes place in a room called a catheterisation laboratory, rather than in an operating theatre.

Going home A coronary angioplasty often involves an overnight stay in hospital, but many people can go home on the same day if the procedure is straightforward. Stents A stent is a short, wire-mesh tube that acts like a scaffold to help keep your artery open. There are 2 main types of stent: bare metal uncoated stent drug-eluting stent — which is coated with medication that reduces the risk of the artery becoming blocked again The biggest drawback of using bare metal stents is that, in some cases, the arteries begin to narrow again.

The 2 most researched types of medication are: "-limus" medications such as sirolimus, everolimus and zotarolimus — which have previously been used to prevent rejection in organ transplants paclitaxel — which inhibits cell growth and is commonly used in chemotherapy The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence NICE recommends that drug-eluting stents should be considered if the artery being treated is less than 3mm in diameter or the affected section of the artery is longer than 15mm, because evidence suggests the risk of re-narrowing is highest in these cases.

These include: aspirin — taken every morning for life clopidogrel — taken for 1 to 12 months depending on whether you have had a bare metal or drug-eluting stent, or whether you have had a heart attack prasugrel or ticagrelor — used as alternatives to clopidogrel in people who have been treated for a heart attack Deciding where to get treatment You can choose where to have your treatment.