Still a future for the bare metal stent?

Percutaneous coronary intervention has witnessed a number of instrumental breakthroughs resulting in improved clinical and angiographic outcomes. Coronary stenting has now surpassed balloon angioplasty as the main treatment strategy due primarily to a more predictable immediate success and a significantly lower risk of restenosis. Stent types have also noticeably changed over recent years with a shift from bare metal to drug eluting coatings. Despite improved outcomes with drug eluting stents however, their bare metal counterparts will continue to play a role for both clinical and economic reasons, at least for the foreseeable future.