Conclusions

Interest in local drug delivery with stents will remain high in the future. Polymer-coated stents for drug delivery appear to be promising for achieving sustained local drug release for a long period. The major limitation currently impeding the clinical application of this technology include the propensity for polymer-induced inflammation and neointimal thickening and the engineering constraints that limit the total dose of incorporated drug. Endothelial cell seeding and gene therapy, as biological therapies, are the most exciting approaches for local therapy. They offer an entirely new spectrum of potential therapies for restenosis. Since all of these therapies are likely to have some complications and will add to the cost of the interventional procedure, further investigations are needed before they can be widely used in clinical practice.