Design Considerations for Coronary Stents and their Efficacy: A Review.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), referring to a group of diseases that inhibit the function of the heart or blood vessels, is the number one cause of death in the world. The largest subset of CVD is coronary heart disease (CHD), which is damage or disease to the heart's coronary arteries, usually caused by the buildup of atherosclerotic plaque over time along the walls of the coronary arteries. Such plaques can rupture, forming thrombi inside the arteries and limiting blood flow to the myocardium, thus leading to myocardial infarction (MI) and/or death. Coronary stents, together with balloon angioplasty, have so far been used extensively in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to re-open blocked arteries and combat CHD. Since their introduction, the design of coronary stents has evolved significantly, with there today being many competing stent product types and products on the market. Each stent has a unique design with differing features, and it is the combination of such design choices that overall helps determine a coronary stent's safety and efficacy in treating CHD. This paper presents a review of the design considerations of coronary stents and their related clinical efficacy, focusing on developments over the past three years.