Angioplasty is a procedure introducing a balloon, mounted on
a catheter, into a narrowed blood vessel, stretching the walls of the vessel
to restore normal blood flow. Angioplasty is performed on short areas of the
narrowing in a vessel. If a long segment of a vessel is narrowed, surgical
intervention is necessary.
Stents are small, flexible tubes that look like wire mesh.
They are implanted in the vessel to hold the walls of the vessel open.
Stents can be placed during the angioplasty procedure. These are permanent
implants. Many new stents are made of materials that are safe for having MRI
examinations.
