Coated stents reduce risk of restenosis

Heart surgeons may soon be able to make use of specially designed coronary artery stents, which are covered with a polymer coating that releases into the arterial walls genetic material that inhibits cell growth.

A team from Philadelphia in the United States has developed an approach in pigs that combines gene therapy with traditional stenting, which should help to prevent the common problem of coronary artery restenosis (Nature Biotechnology 2000;18:1181-4).

Almost all patients experience a subobstructive level of restenosis after stenting that is caused by the damage induced by the arteries being over-stretched. Symptomatic restenosis occurs in about 20% of patients within six months of stenting, and 10% of …