Getting stents to go with the flow

Implantation of expandable stents into stenotic arteries after percutaneous coronary intervention to relieve arterial narrowing has become a standard therapeutic tool. The improvement in vascular interventional technology, and especially stent technology, has, arguably, outstripped understanding of the biologic consequences of opening an obstructed artery. In the case of bifurcation stenoses, new evidence suggests that opening a stenotic subsidiary branch may create unfavorable hemodynamics in the stented main branch that can lead to in-stent restenosis.