Stent News and Research

RSS

A stent is a small mesh tube that’s used to treat narrowed or weakened arteries in the body.

You may have a stent placed in an artery as part of a procedure called angioplasty (AN-jee-oh-plas-tee). Angioplasty can restore blood flow through narrowed or blocked arteries. Stents help prevent arteries from becoming narrowed or blocked again in the months or years after treatment with angioplasty. You may also have a stent placed in a weakened artery to improve blood flow and to help prevent the artery from bursting.

Stents are usually made of metal mesh, but sometimes they’re made of fabric. Fabric stents, also called stent grafts, are used in larger arteries. Some stents are coated with medicines that are slowly and continuously released into the artery. These medicines help prevent the artery from becoming blocked again.

New procedure offers hope to patients at high risk for recurrent stroke

Surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center are the first in the New York City metropolitan area to successfully implant into the brain arteries a new stent specifically designed to treat high-risk stroke patients who have not previously responded to medical therapy.

6 Jan 2006

Making angioplasty safer

When life-threatening problems occur during angioplasty procedures, doctors may perform emergency coronary artery bypass graft surgery, but data from the Mayo Clinic indicates that need to send patients to emergency surgery has dropped sharply, according to a new study in the Dec. 6, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

2 Dec 2005

Stenting of the carotid artery significantly improves cognitive speed

Stenting of the carotid artery significantly improves cognitive speed and may improve memory function in some patients, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

28 Nov 2005

African-Americans fare better in the short term following coronary interventions

Racial disparities in cardiovascular outcomes are well-established, however new findings from University of Pittsburgh researchers indicate that African-Americans fare better in the short term following coronary interventions.

26 Nov 2005

Two competing drug-eluting stents work equally well

After completing the most comprehensive U.S.-based study of its kind, Dr. Charles Simonton reported that the performance of two competing coronary stents was "virtually identical" in head-to-head comparisons.

25 Oct 2005

Drug-eluting stents significantly cut the rates of heart attack and repeat procedures

The use of medicated stents markedly improves the clinical outcomes of patients who develop blockages in aging veins surgically grafted onto the heart, according to a just-published study in the November 2005 issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions: Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.

18 Oct 2005

New approach to treating brain aneurysm combining the use of intracranial stents and coil embolization

A fender-bender may have saved Douglas Collins' life. A CT scan following the accident discovered Collins, 64, had a brain aneurysm, a weakness in the arterial wall that if ruptured could cause a stroke or death. It was not caused by the accident, but likely could have been a ticking time bomb present for years. The aneurysm was large and previously thought to require open surgery and a lengthy recovery.

26 Sep 2005

Endovascular stent grafting successful in patients with abdominal and thoracic aneurysms

Endovascular stent grafting has been successfully used in patients with abdominal and thoracic aneurysms and has been explored as a less invasive alternative in patients with stable type B aortic dissection.

6 Sep 2005

Percutaneous aortic valve replacement - evolutionary and promising interventional cardiology procedure

Percutaneous aortic valve replacement is becoming a reality and brings new hope for a number of patients who cannot currently be treated with traditional surgical techniques.

5 Sep 2005

Use of the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel before a coronary angioplasty reduces risk of cardiovascular death

Use of the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel before a coronary angioplasty reduced the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack or stroke within 30 days following the procedure, according to an article in the September 14 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

5 Sep 2005

Medication before angiograph significantly reduces risk of heart attack

According to new research if patients are given the a drug which reduces platelet activity in the blood risk of heart attack and cardiovascular death before and after angioplasty is reduced.

4 Sep 2005

Complications from angioplasty much lower among patients whose doctors perform a large number of those procedures each year

Before patients get their clogged heart arteries re-opened, they may want to ask their doctor just how many such procedures he or she has done, a new study finds. The answer may make a big difference in each patient's risk of suffering a major setback before leaving the hospital.

15 Aug 2005

Cordis release new stent featuring the latest advancement in balloon-expandable stent technology

Cordis Endovascular, today announced the U.S. launch of the PALMAZ(R) BLUE(TM) Transhepatic Biliary Cobalt Chromium Stent, the latest advancement in balloon-expandable stent technology. Featuring L605, a cobalt alloy enhanced with tungsten, the PALMAZ(R) BLUE(TM) Stent is stronger than stainless steel stents and uses less metal.

1 Jul 2005

Cordis patents infringed by Boston Scientific Stents

Cordis Corporation today announced that a U.S. District Court jury in Wilmington, Delaware found that Boston Scientific's Taxus drug-eluting stent and its Liberte and Express bare metal stents infringe Cordis' pioneering Palmaz patent for balloon expandable stents

21 Jun 2005

New study shows that bypass surgery is more successful than stents in heart surgery

A study of nearly 60,000 patients has found that people with several clogged heart arteries did better if they had bypass surgery rather than a less-drastic procedure in which the blood vessels are propped open with tiny mesh cylinders called stents.

26 May 2005

Russian team tests new polymeric coating for vascular stents

A group of researchers of the Institute of Biophysics (Russian Academy of Sciences), Krasnoyarsk regional clinical hospital and Krasnoyarsk regional department of morbid anatomy under the guidance of .I. Gitelzon, Academician of Russian Academy of Sciences, have tested characteristics of a new polymeric coating for vascular stents.

22 May 2005

Stents coated in polytetrafluoroethylene help keep blood vessels open for cirrhosis patients

Stents coated in polytetrafluoroethylene, the same substance used in non-stick cooking utensils, improves their ability to keep blood vessels open in TIPS procedures, decreasing occurrences of relapse and avoiding intervention, say a group of researchers led by Vina C. Williams, MD, from Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands.

17 May 2005

New trend in treating heart disease in diabetics - angioplasty using the Cypher Sirolimus-eluting coronary stent

The World Health Organisation has predicted an increase in the worldwide prevalence of diabetes of epidemic proportions . Eighty percent of people with diabetes will die from cardiovascular complications -- stroke and/or coronary heart disease (CHD).

12 May 2005

Coronary artery stents that release medication appear more effective than traditional stents for patients with heart attack

A type of coronary artery stent that releases a medication appears to result in better outcomes than traditional stents for heart attack patients, according to a study in the May 4 issue of JAMA.

3 May 2005

Self-expanding metal tubes or stents are a safe and effective treatment for obstructive jaundice

One key goal of treating pancreatic cancer, which is often fatal within a year, is making sure patients have a good quality of life with as few complications as possible. This is especially important if they are candidates for surgical removal of the cancer.

2 May 2005