SURFACE CONDITIONING OF CARDIOVASCULAR 316L STAINLESS STEEL STENTS: A REVIEW

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and 90% of coronary interventions consists in stenting procedures. Most of the implanted stents are made of AISI 316L stainless steel (SS). Excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, workability and statistically demonstrated medical efficiency are the reasons for the preference of 316L SS over any other material for stent manufacture. However, patients receiving 316L SS bare stents are reported with 15-20% of restenosis probability. The decrease of the restenosis probability is the driving force for a number of strategies for surface conditioning of 316L SS stents. This review reports the latest advances in coating, passivation and the generation of controlled topographies as strategies for increasing the corrosion resistance and reducing the ion release and restenosis probability on 316L SS stents. Undoubtedly, the future of technique is related to the elimination of interfaces with abrupt change of properties, the elimination of molecules and any other phase somehow linked to the metal substrate. And leaving the physical, chemical and topographical smart modification of the outer part of the 316L SS stent for enhancing the biocompatiblization with endothelial tissues.