Bioresorbable scaffolds: past and present. Clinical example of a 10-year follow-up of a patient with an implanted Absorb stent

   Today we can say with confidence that percutaneous coronary intervention is an effective, minimally invasive and safe method of treating coronary heart disease. As always complex problems require necessary solutions. One such challenge is the use of metallic covered stents because the stent frame remains permanently in the artery. The idea to create a bioresorbable scaffold appeared more than 20 years ago, and one of the pioneers was the Absorb scaffold, which was implanted in quantities of more than 150 000. During the existence of this stent, a large number of studies were carried out, strengths and weaknesses were identified and eventually came to the conclusion that it was discontinued, but creating Absorb gave a powerful drive to the invention of new types of scaffolds.