Coronary stents are mesh scaffolds that are threaded into arteries and then expanded, usually by inflating a balloon inside the stent, to hold a previously plaque-clogged vessel open. Stents are often employed following angioplasty, in which an unstented balloon is first inflated to widen a clogged or narrowed artery; the stent is then inserted and expanded by another balloon to keep the vessel from renarrowing. Direct stenting [above] opens the artery and implants the stent in one step.

Coronary stents are mesh scaffolds that are threaded into arteries and then expanded, usually by inflating a balloon inside the stent, to hold a previously plaque-clogged vessel open. Stents are often employed following angioplasty, in which an unstented balloon is first inflated to widen a clogged or narrowed artery; the stent is then inserted and expanded by another balloon to keep the vessel from renarrowing. Direct stenting [above] opens the artery and implants the stent in one step.