But again, stent's didn't appear to cut rates of death, another heart attack, or disabling stroke. Stents have demonstrated they can cut the risk of newly cleared arteries closing up again. Stents can prevent much of the recoil by acting like little scaffolds. But scarring may still occur, causing restensois in about 10 to 20 percent of angiplasty patients who receive stents. It's pretty clear that stents are here to stay.
Engineers continue to refine their properties, such as flexibility and strenght.
These advances will continue to perfect this already useful device and lead to stenting in more people and even better outcomes. If you've had an angioplasty to clear a blocked artery in the last year or two, it's likely you were given more than relief from chest pain and lowered risk of heart attack. You probably walked away with a stent - a tiny mesh type metal cylinder designed to sit inside your narrowed artery and prop it open. Stents were pioneered in the mid 1970's and introduced to clinical practice in the mid-1990's. Studies conducted at that time concluded that the devices help prevent the renarrowing of arteries after angioplasty.