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Stints: Heart Disease Treatment Without Surgery
A stint is a tube of metal mesh that is used to keep an artery opening during angioplasty. The stint is first put over a balloon catheter and moved into the area that is blocked. The balloon is then inflated while the stint expands and locks into places forming a temporary frame. This will stay in the artery permanently and hold it open. It will improve the flow of blood to the heart and relieve many symptoms that one is having like chest pain. Within weeks, the lining of the artery will begin to grow over the stint. Stints are used patients and depend on the size of the artery and where the blockage is located. Inserting a stint is a very common procedure and over 70 percent of coronary angioplasty procedures include the placement of a ...