A stent is a wire mesh tube that is used to help hold open an artery. There are a variety of stents currently available. Some are compressed onto the outside of an angioplasty balloon catheter, and delivered by inflating the balloon in the desired location.
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. Stents are sometimes used as an alternative to coronary artery bypass surgery. Stents are often used in combination with balloon angioplasty. Typically, stents are used for lesions that do not respond to angioplasty alone.