Which type of stent expands by balloon inflation?

• A. Balloon Expandable
• B. Self Expandable
• C. Drug Eluting
• D. Bare Metal

Answer: (A)

Balloon-expandable stents are designed to be mounted on a deflated balloon; when the balloon is inflated inside the artery, the stent expands radially and is pressed firmly against the vessel wall to secure it in place. This deployment method gives precise control over where the stent lands and how tightly it apposes the vessel, and it can be followed by further dilation to optimize wall contact, which is particularly useful in challenging lesions such as calcified or ostial segments.

Self-expandable stents, by contrast, use a material with shape memory (often nitinol) that expands on its own when released from the delivery system, not requiring balloon inflation. Drug-eluting and bare-metal terms describe coatings or the absence thereof, not the mechanical expansion method, so they don’t define how the stent expands.

Thus, the type that expands by balloon inflation is balloon-expandable.