Ischaemic heart disease - coronary artery stents

NICE has made the following recommendations about the use of stents in operations for coronary artery disease. A stent should normally be used during balloon angioplasty in a person who has angina or has had a heart attack. The decision on which type of stent to use should depend on the person?s s ...

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NICE has made the following recommendations about the use of stents in operations for coronary artery disease.

A stent should normally be used during balloon angioplasty in a person who has angina or has had a heart attack.

The decision on which type of stent to use should depend on the person?s symptoms, and on the size and shape of the narrowed part of the artery. A drug-eluting stent should be used if the person has angina, and the inside diameter of the artery is less than 3 mm across, or the narrowed area is more than 15 mm long. There are several different drug-eluting stents, which contain different drugs. NICE recommends stents that contain either a drug called sirolimus, or one called paclitaxel, because most of the research has been on these.

If more than one artery is narrowed, doctors should make the decision on which type of stent to use for each artery separately.

This guidance covers treatment for people who would normally be offered some form of balloon angioplasty. NICE has not made any recommendations on using stents to treat people who have had a heart attack in the previous 24 hours, or people who had a clot in the narrowed artery.

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