Stents: material, surface texture and design, in theory and practice.
Intravascular stenting has become standard practice in cardiology and interventional radiology. As part of their daily routine, interventional therapists have to choose from more than 50 different coronary stents for the optimal treatment of patients. Striking advances in biomedical engineering have triggered the production of numerous new and improved stent models, whose theoretical benefits have not yet been confirmed by large-scale clinical trials. Selecting appropriate stents for individual patients is frequently subject to the personal and, therefore, subjective experience of the interventional therapist. This paper reviews different stent materials and designs used in current trials and clinical practice. The theoretical benefits of individual parameters are discussed and correlated with up-to-date clinical results, particularly with a view to considering their favourable impact on intervention outcomes.