Heart disease is a common medical condition that affects hundreds of thousands of people each year in the United States alone. In response, scientists have spent decades researching technologies to treat this disease. Coronary stents are a technology developed to keep collapsing heart vessels open to promote proper blood flow and prevent further cardiovascular complications. Since the 1970s, th...

Everolimus-eluting stents (EES) represent the next generation of drug-eluting stents (DES). Important design modifications include thin strut stent backbones, less inflammatory and more biocompatible polymers, and lower drug dosing. The cobalt chromium EES fluoropolymer XIENCE V stent has been the most extensively studied of such stents. In animal models, this stent demonstrated minimal vessel ...

This paper describes the management of three patients for elective surgery with drug-eluting stents in the coronary circulation. The risks posed at the time of surgery by such patients include acute coronary syndromes, as a result of stent thrombosis, after cessation of anti-platelet therapy and excessive bleeding from continued anti-platelet therapy. We describe a regime for the management of ...

In-stent restenosis remains a significant problem associated with bare metal stents. This drawback has prompted research into improving stent design and the development of novel coatings, including drug-eluting stents. A number of drug-eluting stents are currently on the market; however, the success rate of these stents in complex situations has been found to be quite low. Thus, there remains p...

In this paper we provide the first model of drug elution from polymer-free arterial drug-eluting stents. The generalised model is capable of predicting drug release from a number of polymer-free systems including those that exhibit nanoporous, nanotubular and smooth surfaces. We derive analytical solutions which allow us to easily determine the important parameters that control drug release. Dr...

We present a simple model of experimental setup for in vitro study of drug release from drug eluting stents and drug propagation in artificial tissue samples representing blood vessels. The model is further reduced using the assumption on vastly different characteristic diffusion times in the stent coating and in the artificial tissue. The model is used to derive a relationship between the time...

AIMS Sirolimus- and paclitaxel-eluting stents effectively reduce restenosis in small coronary vessels. The relative efficacy of these drug-eluting stents in this high-risk subset is not known. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 360 patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention for de novo lesions in native coronary vessels with a diameter of <2.80 mm received randomly paclitaxel-eluting ...

BACKGROUND The value of drug-eluting stents in preventing cardiovascular events has not been investigated in Mexico. OBJECTIVE To conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis of early and new-generation drug-eluting stents from the perspective of a healthcare provider. METHODS We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of early and new-generation drug-eluting stents in patients with ischemic cardi...

Contemporary metallic drug-eluting stents are associated with very good 1-year outcomes but an ongoing risk of stent-related adverse events (thrombosis, myocardial infarction, restenosis) after 1 year. The pathogenesis of these very late events is likely related to the permanent presence of the metal stent frame or polymer. Bioresorbable scaffolds have been developed to provide drug delivery an...