Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the influence of modified vascular stent materials on tunica intimal hyperplasia and their applications.
METHODS: By using “vascular stents, surface modification, intimal hyperplasia, restenosis, biocompatibility” in Chinese and “biological vascular scaffold, surface modification, tunica intimal hyperplasia, restenosis, biocompatibility” in English as the keywords, a computer search was performed among articles published from January 2008 to April 2010. Articles related to the vascular stent materials and their modification were included, while duplicated research or Meta analysis were excluded. Thirty articles focus on the influence of stent material modification on the tunica intimal hyperplasia and restenosis.
RESULTS: After stenting, the tunica intimal hyperplasia and restenosis have serious impact on its long-term effect. A large number of animal experiments and clinical analysis showed that the stent surface modification and carrying drug composite stent can be more effective than the naked stents to solve local chronic inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and anti-coagulation problems, showing good safety and effectiveness in reducing the coronary artery restenosis. The development of biodegradable vascular tissue-engineered stents will become a new milestone. Vascular endothelial cells are the most crucial seed cells of vascular tissue engineering. Seed cells were implanted on the bio-absorbable stent materials in vitro, hopefully to repair traumatic lesions and reconstruct functions.
CONCLUSION: The vascular stent surface modification is one of the effective methods for inhibiting intimal hyperplasia, preventing thrombosis and restenosis after stent implantation. Vascular tissue-engineered stents have broad development prospects.