Blending In: Dissolvable stents promise to protect arteries
By Nathan Seppa
Biodegradable versions of the metal cylinders known as stents can keep blocked coronary arteries propped open long enough to free up blood flow, after which they disappear—a potential advantage. The new finding suggests that such dissolving stents might someday replace rigid, permanent stents, which carry health risks (SN: 10/28/06, p. 277).
Doctors insert mesh stents into jammed arteries to keep them open. In the new study, researchers implanted an experimental version of biodegradable magnesium stents in 63 people with clogged coronaries. The scientists chose magnesium because it’s found in the body, poses no allergy risk, and in alloy form is slowly dissolved by body fluids, says study coauthor Raimund A. Erbel, an interventional cardiologist at the West German Heart Center in Essen.