A heart stent is a simple piece of technology: a collapsed metal tube a little bigger than a spring in a ballpoint pen. The idea behind its use in heart care is simple too: The stent is inserted into a blocked vein or artery and expanded to hold the passage open and allow blood to flow.
But like many procedures dealing with the human body, it’s more complicated than that. The body’s natural response is to fight foreign objects, and researchers have worked for years to craft a stent that would assimilate into the body with few negative affects. Now, as part of an international study taking place at the Louisiana Heart Hospital in Lacombe, doctors hope a new design and coating will reduce the post-op treatment regimen for patients and significantly improve their quality of life.