Stent implants are widely used to hold open previously blocked arteries. At Inova Heart and Vascular Institute, we offer patients the latest in stent technology: drug-eluting stents. These stents contain drugs to prevent the scarring that can cause an artery to reclose (restenosis). Drug-eluting stents spare about 25 percent of our patients from restenosis.

Stent implantation usually follows angioplasty. The stent, a small mesh-like wire tube, is placed in the newly-opened artery and pressed into the artery wall. The stent acts as a scaffold to help keep the artery open.