The permanently inserted metal stent braces the vessel walls with structural support, encouraging adequate, non-turbulent blood flow through the vessel. Optimally, normal tissue proliferation and growth will occur to surround the stent. The use of bare metal stents in percutaneous coronary intervention, first clinically introduced in the 1980s, was an engineered advancement of its time in the treatment of coronary artery disease. Bare metal stents gained recognition for reduced rates of life-threatening cardiac events (pharm). As bare metal stents became a commonality of treatment for coronary artery disease, it became evident that optimal results were limited by restenosis from hyperplasia of smooth muscle cells (impact). In an effort to reduce the occurrence of restenosis following implantation of bare metal stents, drug-eluting stents were developed.
DRUG-ELUTING STENTS
Drug-eluting stents differ from bare metal stents in that they are coated in pharmacological agents that work against vessel restenosis and have successfully done so by suppressing tissue response. In 2003, the FDA approved