The stenosis in my vein was very resistant and wouldn't even fully open with the balloon fully inflated. Hence the stent. My stent is a Protege self-expanding nitonyl (sp?) one. Apparently it is very important that any stent used is self expanding. It is not a specially designed venous stent. I don't believe such an animal exists yet. From my research, the most important thing (beyond using a self expanding one) is the skill of the surgeon. They have to know how much to oversize it and and exactly where to place it. As with any medical procedure, you want someone who knows what they are doing!

My stent did fine in an MRI and doesn't set off metal detectors.

I was leery of having a stent before the procedure, but now I am very glad I have one. The chance of me re-stenosing now is almost nil. I haven't had complications yet, so I probably won't now. In fact, a follow up ultrasound this week showed the stent free and clear.

If my stent breaks in half 10 years from now and kills me, I'm still happy I got it. I'd rather have the 10 good years than 40 years of the declining misery I was in before.