[1][2] Stents reduce angina (chest pain) and have been shown to improve survival and decrease adverse events after a patient has suffered a heart attack—medically termed an acute myocardial infarction.

It is also a procedure used in patients that are exhibiting prolonged clinical symptoms of coronary artery narrowing (angina, evidence from stress test data, various imaging techniques etc.).

[6] Patients not undergoing primary PCI are usually awake during the placement of a coronary stent, though local anesthetics are used at the site of catheter entry, to ensure there is no pain.

[13][14] Many significant treatment decisions are made in real time during the actual stent placement, the Interventional Cardiologist uses Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and fluoroscopic imaging data to assess the exact location, the true occlusion status.

Other anticoagulant medicines are also used and the long term combination of aspirin and plavix is a typical post stenting strategy.

For patients undergoing PCI after a heart attack extended stays are very dependent on the degree of damage caused by the event.

There is usually soreness at the point of entry into the arterial system, and fairly large hematomas (significant bruising) are very common.

Those patients at high risk of suffering from complications and those with more complexed coronary issues, angiography may be indicated regardless of the findings of non-invasive stress tests.

[23] Cardiac rehabilitation activities are dependent on many factors, but largely are connected to the degree of heart muscle damage prior to the PCI/DES procedure.

Since platelets are involved in the clotting process, patients must take dual antiplatelet therapy starting immediately before or after stenting: usually an ADP receptor antagonist (e.g. clopidogrel or ticagrelor) for up to one year and aspirin indefinitely.

A 2017 Cochrane review comparing bare-metal and drug-eluding stents found that the latter may result in reduced incidence of serious adverse events.

[27] One of the drawbacks of vascular stents is the potential for restenosis via the development of a thick smooth muscle tissue inside the lumen, the so-called neointima.

The value of stenting in those undergoing a heart attack (by immediately alleviating the obstruction) is clearly defined in multiple studies, but studies have failed to find reduction in hard endpoints for stents vs. medical therapy in stable angina patients (see controversies in Percutaneous coronary intervention).

[citation needed] The first stent was patented in 1972 by Robert A. Ersek, MD based on work he had done in animals in 1969 at the University of Minnesota.

In addition to intervascular stents, he also developed the first stent-supported porcine valve that can be implanted transcutaneously in 7 minutes, eliminating open-heart surgery.