Stent failure: the diagnosis and management of intracoronary stent restenosis

Despite advances in stent technology for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the treatment of coronary disease, these procedures can be complicated by stent failure manifested as intracoronary stent restenosis (ISR). Even with advances in stent technology and medical therapy, this complication is reported to affect around 10% of all percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures. Depending on stent type (drug-eluting versus bare metal), ISR has subtle differences in mechanism and timing and offers different challenges in diagnosing etiology and subsequent treatment options.This review will be visiting the definition, pathophysiology, and risk factors of ISR.The evidence behind management options has been illustrated with the aid of real life clinical cases and summarized in a proposed management algorithm.