Coronary balloon catheters and stents are used during angioplasty, a procedure used to widen a blood vessel constricted or blocked by atherosclerosis. Catheters are long, hollow tubes that are introduced into the patient’s blood vessel, and then guided to the congested artery of the heart. A tiny balloon near the lead end of the catheter is inflated to stretch the artery open and expand the stent which gives structural support to the artery, thus keeping it from collapsing once the balloon catheter is deflated and removed.

This model includes a stent and catheter with an inflated balloon tip as separate objects for animation convenience.