European cardiologists called on Friday for greater use of stents, in a move that could boost demand for the tiny scaffolds that are used to prop open clogged arteries.

The European Society for Cardiology (ESC) said the “Stent 4 Life” campaign was designed to encourage the wider use of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), where a balloon is inflated inside a coronary artery and a stent then implanted.

The plan is to target areas of Europe where uptake of the technique is particularly low.

“There is first class evidence that primary PCI for acute STEMI is now the gold standard of care,” said ESC spokesperson Professor Jean Fajadet, from the Clinique Pasteur in Toulouse, France.

“But what we have seen is that its use in STEMI patients varies throughout Europe.

Around a third of all acute coronary events are diagnosed as STEMI - a common type of classic heart attack, known technically as ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction.

Current registry data suggest that 20 to 30 percent of all STEMI patients in Europe do not receive PCI and stents. Countries with a relatively high rate use at present include Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

Stents are a multibillion-dollar business for Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson , who have traditionally led the field, and are of growing importance for newer players like Medtronic and Abbott Laboratories .

LONDON (Reuters)