Stent

Thanks to its variety of shapes, the Stent application in various fields of medicine. In addition to acute treatment, preventive medicine also benefits from the stent.

What is a stent

As Stent In science, a tubular implant (a non-natural material inserted into the body) is called that is made of plastic or metal.

Such a stent is used, among other things, for stabilization purposes in hollow organs or vessels. The origin of the word stent, which translated into German means as Stent, has not been conclusively clarified - the medical term may possibly refer to the English word 'stenting' ('strengthen' or 'stiffen').

Alternatively, the name of the stent can also go back to the British dentist Charles Stent (19th century), who invented a material from which vascular supports are partially made.

Shapes, types & types

Due to different purposes one Stents There are various types and forms of medical stent support. In addition to the simple metal stent (also referred to as bare metal stent), which is primarily inserted into blood vessels, a stent provided with medication is also used in practice.

Such a stent releases controlled amounts of individually required active ingredients to the organism. A currently developed alternative to a stent made of metal is the so-called bioresorbable stent: the stent is broken down by the organism after a certain time.

A stent, also known as a 'healing stent', is a vascular support that is provided with antibodies - in the case of reticulated stents, this results in a faster overlaying of the vascular support with the body's own tissue. If there is a medical need, the radioactive stent is also used; the radioactivity is supposed to prevent a renewed narrowing of widened cavities.

Structure & functionality

Structure and functionality of a Stents are among other things dependent on its nature. Many stents are similar in structure to a tube in the form of a grid. With their stability, they line vessels or hollow organs and thus prevent tissue constriction in the area of ​​the implant.

In various cases, a stent is placed in the vessel requiring treatment with the help of a so-called balloon catheter - a corresponding catheter is able to widen narrowed vessels and thus enable the stent to be inserted. A lattice-shaped stent is usually placed in a slim structure in a hollow tissue to be supported, where the stent now opens and in this way adapts to the corresponding vessel shape.

A drug-coated stent is designed to reduce the risk of tissue proliferating through the gaps in the stent, creating a bottleneck. Most of such active ingredients released through a stent therefore inhibit local tissue growth. A stent made of bioresorbable material is used in its mode of operation to support vessels that are only necessary over a certain period of time. The aim of therapy here is independent vascular stability after the stent has been dismantled.

Medical & health benefits

As diverse as the forms and types of Stents is also their medical benefit. For example, the simple stent made of metal and the vascular support coated with medication are mainly used for cardiovascular diseases or after a heart attack.

After a narrowed blood vessel has been stretched, the stent takes on the task of preventing another congestion. The stent thus has a significant preventive benefit. In addition to its function as a support in blood vessels, the stunt also serves various forms of cancer treatment; For example, it is possible that malignant tumors (increased tissue circumference) cause constrictions in hollow organs such as the trachea or esophagus and in the biliary tract.

After the bottlenecks that have arisen have been remedied medically, the stent also makes it possible to prevent renewed growth in the affected hollow organ. The bioresorbable stent can, for example, after an injury-related vasoconstriction, cause the supported vessel to resume its independent mobility after a certain period of healing and is thus strengthened. The psychological benefit of this stent form can also be seen in the higher level of patient acceptance.