ABSTRACT
Recoil has been assessed clinically by quantitative angiography and defined as the difference between mean diameter of the last inflated balloon at the highest pressure and mean lumen diameter of the stent immediately after the last balloon deflation. Recoil can be assessed by measurement of cross-sectional area using intravascular imaging with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Stent recoil, which affects both metallic stents and bioresorbable scaffolds, differs between bioresorbable scaffolds (BRSs) and durable stents and between different BRSs. Both bench testing and clinical trial data have shown that BRSs are at risk of immediate and late recoil. At the time of device deployment, recoil can be overcome with postdilatation. However postdilatation balloons must be appropriately sized, as oversized balloons can lead to scaffold fracture. As interest in the field of BRSs evolves and with the introduction of new scaffolds, recoil must continue to be assessed on the bench and clinically.
