STENTS FOR CORONARY HEART DISEASE 

Minerva Cardioangiologica 2011 February;59(1):31-8

Copyright © 2011 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

New drug-eluting stents with biodegradable polymers

Van Der Giessen W. J. ^{1, 2}, Van Beusekom H. M. M. ¹ ✉

¹ Department of Cardiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; ² Interuniversity Cardiology, Institute of the Netherlands (ICIN-KNAW) Utrecht, The Netherlands

Current drug-eluting stents (DES) perform well compared to bare metal stents. However, long-term rates of major adverse events and in particular repeat revascularization by PCI are still an issue. In this concise review we will discuss the possibilities of biodegradable coatings to improve biocompatibility of DES. Among the various members of the synthetic biodegradable polymer family, polyesters are widely used and attractive for their ease of degradation, with degradation products often being resorbed through general metabolic pathways. A new development is surface functionalization of polyesters to improve endothelialization.