Drug-eluting stents for cardiovascular disorders.

Drug-eluting stents have emerged in recent years as a very promising therapy for prevention of restenosis after coronary implantation. Early randomized, clinical trials have suggested that stents eluting drugs, such as paclitaxel or sirolimus, released from polymeric and nonpolymeric coatings, are able to reduce restenosis in simple de novo lesions by more than 80% in comparison with bare metal stents. If restenosis can be indeed minimized globally by drug-eluting stents, coronary revascularization may expand to patients and lesions currently not considered for percutaneous intervention because of excessive recurrence, and may open possibilities for other stent-based endovascular treatments of atherosclerosis.