Flow through coated coronary stented arteries: a review

Abstract

This paper reviews the recent literature on the stent applications and their recent advancements due to some controversies. The paper consists of two parts flow modeling of stents and a comparison between normal and stenosed artery. It also includes a comparison of stent geometries to determine hemodynamically favorable stents. In spite of many advantages bare metal stents are found to be unfavorable. However the study of stents based on flow and design recommend stent coatings. In comparison with bare metal stents, metal coated stents proved to be more efficient in terms of restenosis. Most of the metal coatings have less fluoroscopic visibility and low tensile strengths and hence drug eluting stents were studied. Although drug eluting stents were proved to be efficient in controlling restenosis, they have issues in patients with co-morbidities. For this reason, polymer and carbon coatings were studied in detail which showed better results than drug eluting stents. Biodegradable stents on the other hand inhibit smooth muscle cell proliferation and a decrease in neointimal proliferation. At present research on polymer, carbon and biodegradable stents are actively pursued for stent therapy applications.