Advances in stent technology and drug-eluting stents.

From an initially simple concept, vascular stents have evolved into highly specialized instruments, and are poised to develop into sophisticated drug-delivery systems. Although primary research has mostly targeted the coronary circulation, newer generation stents, deliverable almost anywhere, retarding neointimal hyperplasia and thrombosis, and promoting endothelial overgrowth, will offer the next approximation of true vascular healing. This, in turn,promises to promote less invasive, safer, and finally durable endovascular solutions to current surgical problems.