Stents are small expandable wire like tubes that are meant to be inserted permanently into the artery during the angioplasty surgery.
Angioplasty is a surgery done to widen the narrowed coronary artery. Angioplasty is preferred to bypass surgery since it is less invasive. For angioplasty to be performed, it requires a thin tube called the catheter. Inside the catheter is the guide wire that is used to move the stent into the artery. A balloon is placed inside the stent that is used to push the stent. When the stent is placed properly, the balloon is then removed by deflating leaving the stent there itself. There are mainly two types of stents. They are the drug eluting stents and the bare metal stents.
Drug-eluting stents
As the name suggests, these drug eluting stents are the coated stents. These stents come coated with a medicine that has the ability to harness the growth of cells around the stent that is placed into the artery.
This very fact of it being coated with medicines make it more effective than the bare metal stents. They are more efficient to keep the artery open for along time. This drug coated stent is slowly placed into the artery lining, thereby making way for the artery to remain open, which in turn permits better flow of blood.
Bare-metal stents
Bare metal stents too goes with the name. These stents do not have any special coating. They are used to widen the opening to the artery that is during the angioplasty surgery and to ensure better flow of blood.. But with this bare metal stents, the tissue around the stent grows, and sometimes there could of chances of overgrowth of these tissues around the stents. This overgrowth may increase the probability of the artery getting narrowed and blocked again.
The insertion procedure involves a catheter, guide wire and a balloon which is attached to the stent. The surgeons will first thread the catheter and guide wire through the artery. The balloon is then attached to the stent and is guided to the artery with the help of the guide wire. Once the stent is placed the balloon is then slowly removed thus leaving the stent pressed against the walls of the artery.
There are many benefits of using bare metal stents.
- It prevents restenosis
- It helps to keep the artery open
- It improves the blood flow
- It also decreases the possibilities of you being prone to heart attacks.
- Lower price when compared to drug eluting stents.
Bare metals stents are a good option in case of big vessels and short lesions. Though there is vast advancement in technology and in the field of medicine, more than seventy percent of the surgeons all over the world, go for Bare metal stents.
