Restenosis
One of the drawbacks of vascular stents is the potential for restenosis via the development of a thick smooth muscle tissue inside the lumen, the so-called neointima. Development of a neointima is variable but can at times be so severe as to re-occlude the vessel lumen (restenosis), especially in the case of smaller diameter vessels, which often results in reintervention. Consequently, current research focuses on the reduction of neointima after stent placement. Substantial improvements have been made, including the use of more biocompatible materials, anti-inflammatory drug-eluting stents, resorbable stents, and others. Restenosis can be treated with a reintervention using the same method.
On September 4, 2007, an international study showed that some heart attack patients would be better off not using drug-coated stents in emergency to open their clogged arteries (patients were five times as likely to die after two years as those who received bare-metal stents). Dr. Valentin Fuster, director of the Cardiovascular Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York said stents are less commonly used in Europe, implanted in only about 15 percent of patients there, while drug-lined stents are used in up to 30 percent of Americans having heart attacks. The new research was presented by Dr. Gabriel Steg of the Hospital Bichat-Claude Bernard in Paris at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Vienna. Dr. Eckhart Fleck, director of cardiology at the German Heart Institute in Berlin and a spokesman for the European Society of Cardiology, said, "Drug-eluting stents are not for everyone."
Read more about this topic: Coronary Stent