/ stent; NAmE / noun
( medical ) a small support that is put inside a blood vessel tube in the body, for example in order to stop sth blocking it
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WORD ORIGIN
late 19th cent. (originally referring to a substance used in dentistry for making impressions of the teeth): from the name of Charles T. Stent (1807–85), English dentist. The sense splint dates from the 1960s.