The Concept of Coronary Stenting

The Precursors

To insert a tube into a conduit is an idea that comes from antiquity. It has been reported that the Egyptians deployed a papyrus stalk in urethras to drain urine. Once again, urologists would inspire cardiologists. Alexis Carrel (1873-1944), a brilliant surgeon from Lyon, France, was the first to introduce a device into a vessel.1 At age 21, while working as an extern – against the opinion of the medical community – he averred that President Carnot, assassinated in Lyon in 1894, could have been saved, if only his fatal portal vein wound had been repaired – all we needed to learn was how to suture vessels. In 1912, he published the results of his experience with permanent intubations in canine aortas. The idea was a failure, due to aortic wall ulcerations caused by the prosthetic material employed (glass, aluminum). However, he believed that permanent vessel intubation could be a simple operation and that it would be sufficient to modify the structure and the profile of the tube, thereby avoiding causing lacerations and thus allowing this technique...