Figure D shows the final result after the balloon is removed. As you can see from the cross section in D there are small tears created in the artery wall after it is stretched. A Coronary stent is a small wire tube which we can insert into the blocked area to hold it open like a scafold. The stent is delivered on one of the balloons. Once the balloon is inflated then deflated, the stent is left in place in the artery.
Stents are a major breakthrough in the field of interventional cardiology.
They allow us to repair arteries that the balloon did not work on. Patients that would have in the past required emergency bypass surgery for complications of PTCA can now in most cases be treated with stents. They have also reduced the number of patients that develop restenosis or scarring in the artery. More information on stents . It is a high speed diamond tip drill that pulverizes the blockage into microscopic particles.