A stent is a wire mesh tube that is used to help hold open an artery. To simple understanding this concept think of a plumber or a mechanic. With a plumber sometimes they have to replace a certain area of a pipe that connects the water or like a mechanic replacing a certain area of piping (like the muffler piping connected infront of the muffler than can either can be replaced or just welded with piece of piping welded just to save money. Well a stent opens the artery that was clogged and its put in that place to reinforce that area of the artery to remain open to allow blood to get to that heart from that coronary artery and it will stay there life to keep the artery permanently patent to prevent the blockage from happening again with the synthetic mesh piece.
Stent can also be used for a blocked duodenum (Part of the small intestines). If the pancreatic cancer is blocking the duodenum (first part of the small intestine), you may have a stent put in to keep the duodenum open. It should stop you being sick and you should start to feel like eating again.
Description
Stents are used to hold open diseased coronary arteries (these arteries supply blood to the heart), as well as diseased arteries of the peripheral vascular system (PVS). Peripheral means away from the heart the PVS is the arteries that supply blood to the rest of the body (again away from the heart all the way down to the hands and feet).
There are variety of stents currently available.
For a surgeon to find out if you even need one, first usually a angiogram is performed and this is a catheter simply from the femerol artery or from your arm to the coronary arteries. If the MD sees you show a blockage 80% or more an angioplasty is performed which is a balloon at the end of this catheter that blows up and decompresses to give the effect like punching gloves. The balloon inflates and deflates over and over again till the blockage breaks open free and then a stent is put in that area to help keep it open permanently (patent).
Some stents have been compressed onto the outside of an angioplasty balloon catheter and delivered by inflating the balloon in the desired location. Other stents are “self- expanding” spring-loaded devices, which expand automatically upon deployment.
Stents remain in arteries permanently. The tissue lining the arteries actually grows over the metal mesh to cover the inner lumen of the stent.
Stent procedures have become very common like tonsillectomies were in childhood. Stents are sometimes used as an alternative to coronary artery bypass surgery, if the patient is a candidate. Stents are often used in combination with balloon angioplasty. One leads to the other depending on what the angioplasty displays for the surgeon on the T.V. in when they are doing the procedure and if the come up to a blockage high enough to perform the angioplasty followed with a stent it will be done.
Learn more about stents this weekend in PART 2.