Bare-metal stent

A bare-metal stent is a stent made of thin, uncoated (bare) metal wire that has been formed into a mesh-like tube. The first stents licensed for use in cardiac arteries were bare metal – often 316L stainless steel. More recent "second generation" bare-metal stents have been made of cobalt chromium alloy. While plastic stents were first used to treat gastrointestinal conditions of the esophagus, gastroduodenum, biliary ducts, and colon, bare-metal stent advancements led to their use for these conditions starting in the 1990s.

Drug-eluting stents are often preferred over bare-metal stents because the latter carry a higher risk of restenosis, the growth of tissue into the stent resulting in vessel narrowing.