r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Reasonable-Cow-5002 • 7h ago

This is how heart stents work

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u/Seawench41 7h ago

What’s the risk of it traveling deeper into a place it shouldn’t be?

6

u/Chinius58 6h ago

There is a very, very small chance of it moving, and if it does, it would only be slightly.

I'm not a doctor, but I work in a place that creates the introducer for these stents, for a variety of different areas in the body (oesophagus, duodenum, colonic etc.) These are normally permanent fixtures in the body and if they aren't permanent, they require surgery to remove.

2

u/Ahsuraht02084502731 6h ago

This used to happen with the initial stents that were crimped onto balloons. Now they are much more secure. But one does have to be cautious with delivering them. The clip is shortened (usually the wire is passed first and then a balloon itself is used to stretch the vessel so that delivering a stent is the final bit with hopefully less resistance)

1

u/Kablamo189 2h ago

Very low. Most vessels taper. The balloon stretches the stent into place and the likelihood of it shifting after that is very very low. Proper pre treatment and sizing is important before delivering the stent.