ABSTRACT
General The NIR Stent was developed based on many physicians’ ‘wish list’ for new functional features in order to overcome shortcomings of first generation devices. The two most important features of the coronary stent are basic to its use: the radial force with which it supports the vessel, and its flexibility, one of the major determinants of its trackability into the target lesion before deployment.The basic contradiction between flexible structure that enable good trackability and rigid structure that result in optimal support, brought the developers of first generation stents to select one property while compromising on the other. A typical comparison of features resulting from that forced decision is:
Stent Radial support Flexibility
Palmaz-Schatz High Low
Gianturco-Roubin Low High
Our primary goal in designing the NIR Stent was to overcome this compromise by a new design for the stent, with a secondary goal to optimize other clinically important features.
