Hypersensitivity to cardiovascular implants: Stents

Percutaneous coronary interventions and stenting have existed since the 1970s. Stents can be made of different materials and have different designs. A complication to the intervention and especially to bare metal stents is in-stent restenosis with neointimal proliferation and chronic inflammation, which has several causes briefly discussed below. A possible association between stents and metal allergy has been investigated. With regard to stents, studies have been mainly retrospective, in itself a limitation, and show somewhat disparate results. This chapter will focus on some of these findings but also on general knowledge of stents and what happens in the vessel. This insight is meant to assist those who advise patients and cardiologists and who investigate patients with stents where question of metal allergy is raised.