What is the CYPHER® Stent?
The CYPHER® Stent has three parts: The Stent: a small, expandable, slotted stainless steel tube that is inserted into a coronary artery (one of the blood vessels that supply the heart with oxygen and nutrients). A stent acts as a scaffold that helps hold the artery open in order to improve blood flow to the heart and relieve the symptoms caused by the blockage. The stent has a closed-cell design, with a repeating pattern that allows the medication to be distributed evenly across the artery wall. The anti-rejection-type medication (sirolimus): an anti-rejection-type medication that limits the overgrowth of normal tissue as the healing process occurs following coronary stent implantation. The inactive ingredient: a polymer (soft-plastic) coating on the stent that contains the medication sirolimus, and slowly elutes (releases) the medication into the artery wall around the stent. The coating releases the medication over 90 days to prevent the overgrowth of natural tissue while allowing th
