Mesh Coronary Stent: A Brighter Future?

Unelected EU bureaucrats are reporting about a “new generation” coronary stent, a product of a European intergovernmental initiative called EUREKA. The wire mesh stent is utilising technology by Dutch company Blue Medical Devices and Ireland’s Creganna Medical Devices.
Blue Medical Devices’ technology, that impedes proliferation of the smooth muscle in the arterial wall and prevents thrombus formation, is explained:

Bio and hemocompatibility are extremely important when it comes to minimizing adverse events such as thrombus formation and restenosis.
Blue Medical’s Dylyn coating — a nanocomposite, diamond-like, inert, passive stent coating — significantly reduces thrombus aggregation and increases the biocompatibility of stainless steel.
By insulating the stent with the ultra thin, permanent and integral Dylyn layer, the tissue is shielded from metal ion corrosion.
The smoother and less “sticky” coated stent surface ensures minimal platelet and protein aggregation. In animal trials, the Dylyn single layer stent coating has demonstrated safety and biocompatibility, with decreased thrombogenicity and a tendency towards lower neointimal hyperplasia when compared to stainless steel stents. Dylyn is a highly stable and durable coating which is used in other industries to improve the longevity of stainless steel.

And here’s how EUREKA explains the Irish contribution to the product:

… Creganna Medical Devices from Ireland, developed the process to apply the biodegradable polymer to the metal surface of the stent, with or without a drug component. This was a demanding process because of the small size of the stent: about 14mm by 1mm, with the thickness of the mesh wire only 0.1mm. Coating such a fine mesh tube involved physical problems. “Creganna’s expertise,” says Ronald Horvers, “is in coating metal parts. They were extremely helpful in developing the coating process, building the equipment, and the testing and validation.” Extensive testing of the method has evolved the process covering a uniform, reproducible biopolymer coating onto the metal stent within 3% variation.

EU’s EUREKA press release…
Blue Medical’s technology page…
Creganna Medical Devices page…