title: Progress in interventional cardiology: challenges for the future.
abstract: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the western and developing countries. Percutaneous transluminal coronary interventions have become the most prevalent treatment option for coronary artery disease; however, due to serious complications, such as stent thrombosis and in-stent restenosis (ISR), the efficacy and safety of the procedure remain important issues to address. Strategies to overcome these aspects are under extensive investigation. In this review, we summarise relevant milestones during the time to overcome these limitations of coronary stents, such as the development of polymer-free drug-eluting stents (DES) to avoid pro-inflammatory response due to the polymer coating or the developement of stents with cell-directing drugs to, simultaneously, improve re-endothelialisation and inhibit ISR amongst other techniques most recently developed, which have not fully entered the clinical stage. Also the novel concept of fully biodegradable DES featured by the lack of a permanent foreign body promises to be a beneficial and applicable tool to restore a natural vessel with maintained vasomotion and to enable optional subsequent surgical revascularisation.
authors.forename: Sakine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Simsekyilmaz
authors.forename: Elisa A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Liehn
authors.forename: Constantin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Militaru
authors.affiliation: Felix Vogt, MD, Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, Intensive Care and Vascular Medicine, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany, Tel.: +49 241 80 35525, Fax: +49 241 80 82716, E-mail: fvogt@ukaachen.de.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vogt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000639:trends*; D002309:Cardiology / Q000639:trends*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D023903:Coronary Restenosis / Q000209:etiology; D003328:Coronary Thrombosis / Q000209:etiology; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D062645:Percutaneous Coronary Intervention / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000639:trends*; D011474:Prosthesis Design / Q000639:trends; D015607:Stents / Q000639:trends; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Coronary interventions; in-stent restenosis; neointima formation; stent implantation; stent thrombosis