Corrosion of Metallic Endovascular Stents and Analyses of Wear Debris in Tissues

Corrosion resistance of metallic alloys commonly used in the manufacture of endovascular stents has been determined through in-vitro tests; however, limited information is available regarding the biostability of stent surfaces and their interaction with vascular tissue following implantation. As technology improves, stents are increasingly deployed in complex anatomy and higher risk locations. They are frequently implanted overlapping other stents, either deployed during the same procedure or to treat a recurrent lesion. In addition, with several alloys available for stents such as stainless steel (SS), nickel-titanium (NiTi), cobalt-chromium (CoCr), cobalt-chromium with a tantalum core (CoCr-Ta) and tantalum (Ta); there is an increasing likelihood of overlapping stents of different materials.