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In medicine, a drug-eluting stent is a stent (a metal scaffold) placed into diseased coronary arteries that slowly releases a drug blocking cell proliferation; this helps to delay or prevent the artery from being re-occluded by smooth muscle and clot (thrombus). The stent consists of a expandable metal framework, a drug to prevent restenosis, and a carrier to slowly release the drug. It is placed over a balloon on a catheter and guide wire and introduced through a peripheral artery, usually one of the femoral arteries. It is threaded back towards the heart; from the aorta, the appropriate coronary artery is entered. The balloon is inflated, cracking and compressing the plaque and expanding the stent. The balloon and catheter are then withdrawn, leaving the stent in place. The stent releases its drug over the next several months. Patients must take antiplatelet therapy afterwards, usually clopidogrel for six months and aspirin indefinitely. Drug-eluting stents have been shown to be superior for many of the conditions that traditional stents (“bare-metal stents”) have been used, and have become quite popular since their FDA approval in 2003.

References

1. Serruys, Patrick W. (2006-02-02). "Coronary-Artery Stents". New England Journal of Medicine. 354 (5): 483–495. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) (extract)
2. "New Device Approval — Cypher Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent". Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved 2006-07-22.

See also

• Fischetti, Mark (2006). "Vascular Stents: Expanding Use". Scientific American: 94. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)