A stent is a small mesh tube, often expandable, inserted into the body in order to treat narrowed or weakened arteries.
A stent is placed in an artery as part of a procedure called Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) or angioplasty. The materials used in coronary stents must be biocompatible, flexible and capable of expansion. Stents are usually made of stainless steel or nitinol, but researchers are working to develop alternative platform materials such as gold, titanium, cobalt-chromium alloys, tantalum alloys, and titanium boron nitride (TiBN).