[Venous stents]

The continuous development of stents in the past 20 years has facilitated the widespread use of stents in the arterial and venous system. The idea of stents is tightly related to the name of Charles Dotter, the inventor of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA). Stents can be placed for various causes of obstruction, both benign and malignant, throughout the venous system either, primarily, in combination with fibrinolysis, or as adjunct to PTA or surgical intervention. Stent placement is a minimal invasive method associated with a low complication rate and a high clinical success mainly due to differences of the properties and of the pressure between veins and arteries. Special cases of veinous stents are hemodialysis shunts, where patency rates are not improved but critical situations can be managed, and transjugular intrahepatic porto-systemic shunts (TIPS), which have high rates of complication and restenosis requiring frequent reinterventions.