Ever since coronary stents were introduced metal market is having a good time within human coronary arteries.The search for the the elusive , ideal metal is still on . . . Nickel , stainless steel , platinum etc .
Some body thought , why not gold ?
For long , gold is known to be a good bio -compatible metal .
Two Gold stents were tried .
- Inflow dynamics – AG Germany
- Boston scientific – NIR stent
Surprisingly , both showed increased reactivity with coronary endothlium . The verdict was clear . Gold coated stent was not good enough.
Gold allergy
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0105-1873.2005.00522.x/abstract
Final message
With the advent of DES , gold coating of stents lost it’s popularity .Unless new innovations happen in gold metallurgy , the future looks bleak for this precious metal , at-least in the human coronary arteries.
Dr.S.Venkatesan MD 