Evaluation of fluorinated polymers as coronary stent coating.

In this report, some fluorinated polyphosphazenes and polymethacrylates were selected for evaluation as coronary stent coating. After applying the polymer film by dipcoating, the stents were implanted in porcine coronary arteries. No acute thrombotic occlusions were observed. The neointimal proliferation was studied by a 6 week follow-up of the minimal lumen stented diameter, using quantitative coronary analysis. All polymers demonstrated a slight hyperplasia, resulting in a 10-20% lumen narrowing at follow-up. Only for one fluorinated polymethacrylate, PFM-P75, a minimal neointimal response (3% lumen narrowing) was found. Copyright 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers