Biodegradable drug eluting stents: invasive and non-invasive imaging

A biodegradable everolimus-eluting stent, developed by Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions, Inc., an affiliate of Abbott Laboratories, located in Mountain View, CA, is currently undergoing clinical evaluation. The stent consists of a Polylactic acid (PLA) stent backbone processed for increased radial strength to provide stent integrity and a thin amorphous everolimus/PLA matrix coating (1:1 ratio of Everolimus/PLA matrix) for controlled drug release. Panel (a) shows the stent ex vivo: the stent is transparent apart from 2 radio-opaque markers at both proximal and distal edges. The appearances on optical coherence tomography (OCT) (Panel b) are quite unlike conventional stents; OCT can detect the ...