Many people are familiar with the term "Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI)", which involves using a balloon to expand narrowed blood vessels and restore blood flow. However, the medical field has not stopped there, it has continuously innovated angioplasty techniques to minimize the risk of post-surgery recurrence.
Typically, doctors recommend PCI if a coronary heart disease patient has more than 70% blockage in a blood vessel, over 50% blockage in the main artery, or acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
The earliest form of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) did not involve stents; it simply used a balloon to expand the blocked vessel. However, the results were not long-lasting, as the vessel could collapse or narrow again. To address this, the medical community began placing bare-metal stents after balloon expansion to support the vessel, significantly reducing the chance of re-narrowing. Still, patients remained at risk of future vessel narrowing.
With further advancements, the latest drug-eluting stents (DES) have largely replaced bare-metal stents. After stent placement, inflammation can occur, leading to cell overgrowth and subsequent vessel or stent re-narrowing. To counter this, drug-eluting stents were developed, they release medication to suppress cell proliferation and prevent re-narrowing. Some patients may also opt for magnesium alloy bioresorbable stents, which slowly dissolve in the body about a year after the procedure.
Beyond inhibiting cell overgrowth, drug-eluting stents are also a major improvement over bare-metal stents in terms of material, providing stronger vessel support. They are also more than 50% thinner than bare-metal stents, further reducing the risk of vessel re-narrowing and significantly lowering recurrence rates.
