Maria E. Romero, MD FCAP Recent Publications

Implantation of drug-eluting stents (DES) is the dominant treatment strategy for patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease. However, the first-generation DES had substantial drawbacks, including delayed healing, local hypersensitivity reactions and neoatherosclerosis, which all led to a steady increase in major adverse cardiovascular events over time. Subsequently, newer-generation DES were introduced with thinner struts, different scaffold designs (to improve deliverability while maintaining radial strength), different durable and biodegradable polymers – and in some cases no polymer (to improve vascular biocompatibility) – and new antiproliferative drug types and doses. Currently, >30 different DES are commercially available in Europe, with fewer available in the USA but with many new entrants coming onto the US market in the next few years. Never before have cardiologists been faced with so many choices of stent, each with its own unique design. In this Review, we detail preclinical and pathology studies for each stent design, examining thromboresistance, speed of neointimal coverage and completeness of healing, including endothelialization. We conclude by discussing how these design characteristics might affect the potential for shortening the minimum duration of dual antiplatelet therapy needed after coronary intervention.

VenaSeal (Medtronic, Minneapolis, Minn) is a cyanoacrylate polymer adhesive for the treatment of patients with chronic venous insufficiency. As an implanted device, questions remain about how long cyanoacrylate persists after closure. In this report, a 65-year-old man was examined 5.5 years after cyanoacrylate closure, and a segment of great saphenous vein was excised for histopathologic analysis. Findings were typical of a foreign body reaction. The vessel was occluded with collagenized mature fibrous tissue and polymer remnants, which were encapsulated by multinucleated giant cells. Focal areas of granulomatous inflammation were present in the vein wall extending to the adventitia.