Coronary stent

A coronary stent is a tube-shaped device placed in the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart to keep the arteries open in patients suffering from coronary heart disease. The vast majority of stents used in modern interventional cardiology are drug-eluting stents (DES). They are used in a medical procedure called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Coronary stents are divided into two broad types: drug-eluting and bare metal stents. As of 2023, drug-eluting stents were used in more than 90% of all PCI procedures. Stents reduce angina (chest pain) and have been shown to improve survival and decrease adverse events after a patient has suffered a heart attack—medically termed an acute myocardial infarction. Similar stents and stenting procedures are used in atherosclerosis of arterial vessels of the limbs—particularly in the legs, such as in peripheral artery disease.