ABSTRACT
The concept of a splint to stabilize tissue was developed by a nineteenth-century dentist, Charles R. Stent (1845-1901), to support skin grafting. Although the first percutaneous application of this concept was proposed by Dotter in 1969 for peripheral arterial intervention (1), it was not until 1986 that the first coronary stent was placed. The following year, 1987, a landmark report by Sigwart et al. was published on the early and late reduction in restenosis of the first 29 patients treated with self-expanding coronary Wallstents (2). Subsequently, coronary stents have been established as the single most important development in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and consequently their use has grown explosively.
