Bioabsorbable and biocompatible stents. Is a new revolution coming?

With the introduction of drug-eluting stents (DES) the problem of restenosis after percutaneous stent implantation was partially resolved. In the first generation of DES a stainless steel platform was coated with a durable polymer eluting and controlling the release of an active restenotic drug. The impairment of re-endothelization after DES implantation, one of the causes of late stent thrombosis, was to some extent attributed to the properties of the durable polymer and/or drug that it eluted. The introduction of biodegradable platforms and biocompatible polymers may potentially address this issue. Modern technologies are being applied to improve the characteristics of biodegradable stents and find new active pharmacological agents or combinations of standard antirestenotic and antithrombotic drugs that can be eluted from the stents, in order to improve their safety profile and clinical utility.