Advances in stent technologies and their effect on clinical efficacy and safety

The introduction of intracoronary stents represented a major advance in interventional cardiology. While bare metal stents set the benchmark for improved safety over angioplasty, intimal hyperplasia and subsequent restenosis were important limitations. First-generation drug-eluting stents demonstrated significant improvements in efficacy, but not necessarily safety, and further technologic developments have focused on optimizing both. Current advances and understanding in stent design continue to improve on these concepts. This review summarizes past and present technology with particular emphasis on the principles underlying the efficacy and safety of drug-eluting stents, and offers a glimpse into the next generations of stents aimed at treating symptomatic coronary artery disease.