title: Absorbable stent: focus on clinical applications and benefits.
abstract: Coronary stents have improved very significantly the immediate and long-term results of percutaneous coronary interventions. However, once the vessel has healed, the scaffolding function of the stent is no longer needed, and the presence of a permanent metallic prosthesis poses important disadvantages. This has led to the idea of creating new devices that are able to provide mechanical support for a determined period and then disappear from the vessel, allowing its natural healing and avoiding the risks associated with having a permanent metallic cage, such as stent thrombosis. Absorbable stents currently appear as one of the most promising fields in interventional cardiology. The present article will review the available clinical evidence regarding these devices at present and their future perspectives.
authors.affiliation: Interventional Cardiology, Cardiovascular Institute, Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain. nieves_gonzalo@yahoo.es
authors.forename: Nieves
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gonzalo
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Macaya
mesh_terms: D020341:Absorbable Implants; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000818:Animals; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D015607:Stents; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome