Matters of the Heart: 5 Exciting Cardio Technologies

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Bioresorbable Stents Trumpeted as the future of stent design, bioresorbable drug-eluting stents (DES) have been generating buzz and eliciting premature praise for several years now as the the much-anticipated technology has neared market introduction. Luckily, this could just be one of those rare technologies that is able to live up to the hype, although only time will tell. Responsible for the escalating excitement is the controlled vanishing act performed by the novel device after fulfilling its function in the body. After implantation for a determined length of time, the device dissolves naturally into the body, thereby eliminating the associated problems that can arise over time with a permanent implant. And leading the pack, of course, is the Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold, manufactured by Abbott Vascular. Although the Absorb obtained a CE Mark last year, Abbott predicts that the device will not obtain FDA clearance until 2015. Engineered from polylactide, the Absorb scaffold enables restoration of naturally occurring vessel function upon dissolving. For more information about the Absorb and bioresorbable stents in general, check out "Abbott's Bioresorbable Stent: Another Case of Innovation Vs. FDA," "Bioabsorbable Stents Could Make Big Bucks for Abbott, Other Innovators," and "Bioabsorbable Stent Sparks New Design Debate."Image of the Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold courtesy of Abbott.