A stent is a small tube which is used to treat narrow or weak arteries. A procedure called percutaneous coronary intervention which is sometimes referred to as coronary angioplasty is used to place a stent in an artery. The stent supports the inner wall of the artery after months and years after percutaneous coronary intervention.
The stents are either made of metal mesh or fabric. Stents of fabric are also called stent grafts and are used in larger artrities. The medicine coated stents which are known as drug-eluting stents are released into the artery to prevent the artery from getting them blocked again.
Stent procedures usually require an overnight stay in a hospital. Somebody from the family is also required to be with you. A patient should ask his or her doctor important questions before going for a stent procedure. Ask your doctor when to stop eating and drinking before coming to the hospital. Which medicines should or shouldn’t be taken on the day of the procedure and when to come to the hospital and where to go.
People with medical conditions like diabetes, kidney diseases should ask their doctor if they need to take any extra care or anything during or after the procedure to avoid the complications. Before the procedure, your doctor will recommend you the medicines you would likely need to take after the procedure. These medicines will in preventing the blood clotting in the stent. Ask your doctor for how long you would need to continue with these medicines.
Image Courtesy : Getty
Read more articles on Understand Stent
Though all possible measures have been taken to ensure accuracy, reliability, timeliness and authenticity of the information; Onlymyhealth assumes no liability for the same. Using any information of this website is at the viewers’ risk. Please be informed that we are not responsible for advice/tips given by any third party in form of comments on article pages . If you have or suspect having any medical condition, kindly contact your professional health care provider.