Bioabsorbable stents: they take away the narrowing, allow healing, and then disappear leaving a normal artery.
Unfortunately, despite the hype, it sounded like science fiction, and the metallic stents have indeed proven to be better.
So if you need a stent, Dr Malik would generally avoid these ones in most types of narrowing in the coronary arteries.
Why? Because they don’t fully disappear, and there is an increased risk of stent thrombosis and heart attack. 2-year data from the ABSORB III trial, the rate of target lesion failure (death, heart attack, repeat revascularisation needed) was 11.0% in patients who received Absorb stent and 7.9% in patients who received Xience metallic stent. (P = 0.03).
Even with metallic stents, the best around, there is a 3-4% annual even rate. So paying attention to the medications and lifestyle to reduce risk of future coronary events is essential for all coronary patients. It is a lifelong disease.
Read the original article here.