Stent

A tube designed to be inserted into a vessel or passageway to keep it open. Stents are inserted into narrowed coronary arteries to help keep them open after balloon angioplasty. The stent then allows the normal flow of blood and oxygen to the heart. Stents placed in narrowed carotid arteries (the vessels in the front of the neck that supply blood to the brain) appear useful in treating patients at elevated risk for stroke. Stents are also used in other structures such as the esophagus to treat a constriction, the ureters to maintain the drainage of urine from the kidneys, and the bile duct to keep it open. Named after Charles R. Stent (1845–1901), an English dentist.

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Charles R., English dentist, †1901. See s., S. graft.

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stent 'stent also stint 'stint n

1) a mold formed from a resinous compound and used for holding a surgical graft in place also something (as a pad of gauze immobilized by sutures) used like a stent

2) a short narrow metal or plastic tube often in the form of a mesh that is inserted into the lumen of an anatomical vessel (as an artery or bile duct) esp. to keep a previously blocked passageway open

Stent Charles Thomas (1807-1885)

British dentist. In the mid 19th century Stent developed a dental-impression compound containing gutta-percha, stearine, and talc, which he produced and sold with the aid of his sons Charles Robert (1845-1901) and Arthur Howard (1859-1900), who also became dentists. In 1899 the compound was trademarked under the name Stents. During World War I the Dutch plastic surgeon J. F. S. Esser discovered that Stent's compound could also be used to form molds for holding skin grafts in place, and in a 1917 publication he referred to such molds as „stents molds.” Over the next several decades the singular form stent became a generally used term in plastic and oral surgery. The meaning of stent continued to be expanded to include other types of artificial supports for human tissue. In 1954 the American surgeon William ReMine applied the term stent to a polyethylene tube used to support an anastomosis in an experimental biliary reconstruction. By 1966 stent (or sometimes stint) had been used for tubular supports in cardiovascular surgery, and by 1972 the term was also being used for urological supports.

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n.

a tube placed inside a duct or canal to reopen it or keep it open. It may be a simple tube, usually plastic, or an expandable, usually sprung mesh metal, tube. The former is more easily removable, while the latter gives a larger lumen for a given outer diameter. Stents may be used at operation to aid healing of an anastomosis, for example of a ureter. Alternatively they can be placed across an obstruction to maintain an open lumen, for example in obstruction due to tumour in the oesophagus, stomach, bile ducts, colon, or ureter. In an artery after angioplasty stents help to prevent restenosis. Double J (or pig-tail) stents are slender catheters with side holes that are passed over a guide wire either through an endoscope or at open operation to drain urine from the kidney pelvis to the bladder, via the ureter. On removal of the guide wire both the upper and lower extremities of the stent assume a J-shape, hence preventing both upward and downward migration. They are commonly used to splint a damaged ureter and to relieve obstruction.

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(stent) [from Charles R. Stent] 1. a mold for keeping a skin graft in place, made of Stent mass or some acrylic or dental compound. 2. a slender rodlike or threadlike device used to provide support for tubular structures that are being anastomosed, or to induce or maintain their patency. See also endoprosthesis. 3. to apply or insert a stent.

Patent stent (arrows) in the proximal anterior interventricular branch of the left coronary artery.