Stents

I. In the 1900’s, if a patient had a blocked artery in their heart there was little a doctor could do to open it back up to restore blood flow through the artery. The patient would often die of a heart attack without even showing signs of a problem with their heart. It was not until 1977 when doctors used mesh tubing called a stent to support the artery wall and eliminate the blockage so that blood could flow freely throughout the artery to the rest of the body.

II. In 1977, a method called balloon angioplasty was introduced to the world. The process involved a small balloon being inserted into the artery through a catheter device. The balloon was inflated for roughly 30 to 60 seconds. This would in turn open the artery back up to its normal capacity. There was one flaw with this method though, the blockage would partially return due to an affect called recoil when the channel would become smaller after having the balloon expansion.

III. In 1993, about fifteen years after the first types of stents were introduced, the stent we know today as the coronary stent was introduced. This stent was introduced to combat the effects of recoil by placing a stainless steel tube with slots mounted on a balloon catheter in a crimped state. When the balloon is inflated the stent expands and pushes itself against the coronary artery blockage. This would act like a pipe to stop the blockage from recoiling or starting again, even though this state of the art technology was sussposed to stop the blockage from reoccurring the blockage would grow through the holes and the patient would have a reoccurring blockage.

IV. It was not until 2003 that the FDA approved the first drug-eluting stent to open up and restore blood flow to the clogged artery. This new type of stent slowly releases a drug that helps combat a reoccurring blockage. The study’s on this new stent show that the patients that had the new type of stent had a signifanctly lower reoccurring blockage rate of (4.2% to 16.8%). These drug-coated stents also helped with reducing restenosis rate to 8.9% compared to 36.3% in the patients who received an un-coated stint.

V. The journal article I used in the writing of my blog helped me with key information and broad topics. I had detailed information on how a stent works and the recent advancements in stent technology. It also had a lot of information on case study’s from doctors around the world on stents and new scientific breakthroughs in heart technology.