| Metal stents improve the results of coronary balloon angioplasty, in terms of preventing abrupt vessel closure and late restenosis. However, they are associated with several problems such as inflammation, thrombosis and in-stent restenosis. Drug loaded metal stents can solve the in-stent restenosis problem but the drug reservoir is limited. Bioresorbable polymeric stent can deliver drug and/or gene therapy for longer period and is a temporary implant, thus offering advantages over metal stents.; The aim of this study was to improve the performance of an expandable coil bioresorbable PLLA stent, designed and studied by Su et al, and to study its degradation kinetics. To reduce the furled diameter of the stent a new inner-coil design was developed. A 21% reduction in furled diameter and a 30% increase in percentage expansion were achieved with the inner-coil stent design compared to results with the outer-coil stent. This inner-coil design has similar mechanical function to that of the outer-coil stent and to metal stents. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
