Self-Expanding Vascular Stent Offers Enhanced Deployment Accuracy

A self-expanding vascular stent now treats peripheral artery disease (PAD) in the iliac arteries, major blood vessels within the pelvis that supply blood to the lower extremities.

The Complete Self-Expanding (SE) vascular stent is a thin, flexible metal mesh tube that can be implanted in the large arteries that supply blood to the pelvis and legs. It consists of two parts, the stent, and the delivery system. The stent itself is an implant constructed of a nickel-titanium alloy (nitinol) tubing and laser-cut into a mesh shape. The stent is mounted within an innovative dual-deployment delivery system with a unique triaxial design, made of an inner shaft, a retractable sheath, and a stabilizing sheath that reduces friction and allows the retractable sheath to move back freely. The innovative designs decreases the amount of force required to deploy the stent, thereby making stent deployment straightforward more precise. The Complete SE vascular stent is a product of Medtronic (Minneapolis, MN, USA), and has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).


"The Complete SE Vascular Stent System provides physicians with a new treatment option that offers significant benefits for patients with narrowed iliac arteries due to peripheral vascular disease,” said study coauthor Robert Molnar, M.D., of the Michigan Vascular Research Center (Flint, USA). "The system enables highly accurate stent placement in the iliacs, reducing the likelihood of stent ‘jumping,' which we commonly see during deployment with the use of many self-expanding stent systems.”

Peripheral artery disease includes all diseases caused by the obstruction of large arteries in the arms and legs leading to stenosis, an embolism, or thrombus formation, and often signals atherosclerosis in the heart and the brain. As a result, PAD causes either acute or chronic ischemia, typically of the legs. PAD results in a two- to six-fold increase in cardiovascular mortality and a significantly increased risk of amputation, disability, and diminished quality of life.

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