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THURSDAY, May 31 (HealthDay News) -- A stent that biodegrades and vanishes from an artery in a matter of months has successfully passed a major test in humans, German researchers report.
The device, made of magnesium, is one of many different biodegradable stents that together represent the future of these artery-opening devices, said Dr. Raimund Erbel, professor of medicine at the West German Heart Center in Essen, and lead author of a report on the trial in the June 2 issue of The Lancet.
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Stents are tiny, implanted mesh tubes that prop open failing arteries.
"In the long run, a biodegradable stent is best for those who need a coronary stent," Erbel said. "When such a stent has done its job, you don't need it any more. In the long run, its presence can cause problems."
A number of cardiologists and companies in countries across the world are working to develop stents that are broken down by the body once they have succeeded in keeping blood flowing through an artery. Most of this work is going on outside the United States, with reports on early trials coming from China, Japan, Finland, Germany, and elsewhere.
For example, at a heart meeting earlier this year, a group at Erasmus University in Amsterdam reported on a biodegradable stent they placed in 30 cardiac patients. The devices behaved very much like standard metal stents over the relatively brief period of a month, the researchers reported. The patients are still being followed to determine exactly when and how the stents disappear.
In this new trial, Erbel and his colleagues implanted 71 magnesium stents in 63 patients.
They reported that the safety record of the devices remained good after 12 months, with not a single case of clotting noted within the stent and no incidents of heart attack or death among patients. The diameter of the treated arteries increased slightly as the magnesium was absorbed by the body, being replaced by natural calcium and phosphorus.
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