Coronary artery stent

Abstract

Coronary stent implantation has become a well established therapy in the management of coronary artery disease. Although some stent restenosis studies demonstrated that stenting is superior to percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty with respect to restenosis, there is, however, still a high incidence of restenosis following stent implantation. Improvements in stent design and implantation techniques resulted in an increase in the use of coronary stents and stenting has become the predominant form of all percutaneous coronary intervention. Stents, however, do not decrease neointimal hyperplasia and in fact lead to an increase in the proliferative comportment of restenosis. Some clinical studies with drugeluting stents (DES) produced dramatic results eliminating restenosis inhibiting neointimal formation. Although we herald these DES, long time safety, clinical outcome, and cost- effectiveness of these stents should be assessed cautiously.