Vascular wall reactions to coronary stents—clinical implications for stent failure

Abstract

Coronary stents belong to the most commonly implanted devices worldwide. A number of different types of stent exist, with very different mechanical and biochemical characteristics that influence their interactions with vascular tissues. Inappropriate inflammatory reactions are the major cause of the two major complications that follow implantation of stents in a percentage as high as 5–20%. It is therefore important to understand these reactions and how different they are among different generations of stents.