In
medicine, a
stent is a tube or other device placed in the body to create a passage between two hollow spaces, and
stenting is the placement of a stent. There is a wide variety of stents used for different purposes, from expandable
coronary,
vascular and
biliary stents, to simple plastic stents used to allow the flow of
urine between
kidney and
bladder. Stent is also used as a
verb to describe the placement of such a device, particularly when a disease such as
atherosclerosis has
pathologically narrowed a structure such as an
artery.