Ultra-hydrophilic stent platforms promote early vascular healing and minimise late tissue response: a potential alternative to second-generation drug-eluting stents.

Aims: Simple surface modifications can enhance coronary stent performance. Ultra-hydrophilic surface (UHS) treatment of contemporary bare metal stents (BMS) was assessed in vivo to verify whether such stents can provide long-term efficacy comparable to second-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) while promoting healing comparably to BMS.

Methods And Results: UHS-treated BMS, untreated BMS and corresponding DES were tested for three commercial platforms.

Stent thrombogenicity early in high-risk interventional settings is driven by stent design and deployment and protected by polymer-drug coatings.

Background: Stent thrombosis is a lethal complication of endovascular intervention. Concern has been raised about the inherent risk associated with specific stent designs and drug-eluting coatings, yet clinical and animal support is equivocal.

Methods And Results: We examined whether drug-eluting coatings are inherently thrombogenic and if the response to these materials was determined to a greater degree by stent design and deployment with custom-built stents.