The use of coronary artery stents should be routine in patents undergoing balloon angioplasty for ischaemic heart disease, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence has recommended.
In guidance issued last month, the NICE says that patients with angina or who have had an infarction, who are having angioplasty, should now normally receive a stent. It adds that if a patient is suitable for both balloon angioplasty and coronary artery bypass surgery, it may be preferable for them to undergo angioplasty with a coronary stent instead of bypass surgery.
Stents are used to prevent vessel renarrowing after balloon angioplasty. The small tube-like device is placed in the artery at the time of the widening procedure. "Stents may have significant advantage in overcoming the problems that limit the full potential of balloon angioplasty," the NICE says.