Current concepts on cardiovascular stent devices

Coronary artery stents used for the treatment of patients with coronary artery disease develop the practice of interventional cardiology after they were first introduced in the mid-1980s. Since then, with dozens of companies involved in the development of new and innovative anti-restenotic drugs, polymeric coatings and stent platforms has made significant progress in this area. Today, the challenge is the conception of the "ideal" coronary stent designed to respond to the patient health difficulty. In this context, the literature in the field is quite dynamic and successful. The aim of this article is to provide a systematic review on the interdisciplinary field literature of the evolution of these medical devices by describing the current status, importance and different types of stents used in clinical practice. After the presentation of cardiovascular problems associated to stenting therapy, the authors describe the bare metal stents, the generations of drug eluting stents and the future in progress directions regarding: the stents based on biodegradable/bioresorbable polymers, polymer-free metal platforms, fully biodegradable scaffolds, as well as drug delivery mediated by stent-targeted magnetic nanoparticles.