A stent is a tiny mesh tube that helps keep an artery open. Your doctor implants a stent in a newly opened artery to reduce the risk of repeat blockage or narrowing following an angioplasty procedure. Stents are often implanted in arteries supplying blood to your heart (coranary arteries) or neck (carotid arteries). A stent implant is a procedure that uses local numbing. General anesthesia is usually not needed.
There are two kinds of coronary artery stents: bare metal and drug-coated. A drug-coated stent is a bare metal stent coated with a special medication, or drug, to help reduce the chance of the artery becoming blocked again. The drug coating is released from the stent over the period of time when a new blockage is most likely to happen.
A drug-coated stent implant may reduce your need for a second procedure (such as a coronary stent procedure or bypass surgery) to re-open the artery.
Before a stent implant, your doctor may open the blocked artery by performing an atherectomy or a balloon angioplasty. Those procedures-and the stent implant-involve a catheterization. During a catheterization, a small, flexible tube called a catheter is inserted through a blood vessel in your groin (or sometimes in your arm). Your doctor gently “steers” the catheter toward your blocked vessel. Dye put in through the catheter allows your blood vessels to show up as images on a monitor-almost like roads on a map. (This part of the procedure is called an angiogram.) The catheterization and angiogram are typically part of a stent implant.
After clearing the blockage, the doctor uses a special catheter to place the stent in your newly opened artery. The stent helps:
Usually you are told not to eat or drink anything for a number of hours before the procedure. Your procedure will be performed in a “cath lab.” You lie on an exam table and an intravenous (IV) line is put into your arm. The IV delivers fluids and medications during the procedure. The medication makes you groggy, but not unconscious.
The doctor makes a small incision for the catheter. The area will be numbed so you shouldn’t feel pain, but you may feel some pressure as the catheter is inserted. During the stent implant your doctor or nurse might ask you questions-to make sure you are not feeling pain, for instance. You may be in the hospital overnight, and there may be tenderness at the incision site. Most people have a fairly quick recovery.
Our knowledgeable and courteous staff will help set up a consultation for you, schedule surgical procedures, discuss your insurance, and answer any questions you may have.
