How heart stents (and their relatives) have gone from strength to strength

Heart stents have come a long way since doctors first started using balloon angioplasty to treat narrowed coronary arteries. During this procedure, a very thin, long, balloon-tipped tube (catheter), is inserted into an artery in either the groin or arm and is moved to the site of the blockage with help from an X-ray. The balloon at the tip of the catheter is then inflated to compress the blockage and restore blood flow, and is then deflated to...

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