This chapter deals with the development and progression of metallic stents,
as well as with the research and clinical trials of the bioabsorbable stents. Despite of the
good results obtained with the metallic stents, many concerns still remain because of
their permanent nature. Although metallic stents are effective in preventing recoil and
late restenosis after coronary angioplasty, they continue to have limitations such as stent
thrombosis and mismatch of the stent to the vessel size. Thus, the concept of
bioabsorbable stents has emerged as an alternative to permanent metal stent. This
chapter will outline concepts, material designs, preclinical, and metal clinical
experimental studies with bioabsorbable stents.
Keywords: Metallic stents, bioabsorbable stents, targeted nanomedicines,
nanostructured biomaterials, restenosis, passive-stent coatings, heparin,
phosphatidylcoline, silesquioxane, polyhedral silesquioxane-POSS, active stent
coatings, serolimul, drug eluting stents, nanoparticulate biomaterials, biomedical
composites.
