Bioresorbable vascular scaffolds for complex coronary anatomies: “Icarus’ flight” for interventional cardiologists?

In patients suffering from obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) a percutaneous therapy with fully bioresorbable scaffolds ensures for the vessel a temporary support which dissolves into inert breakdown products after a certain amount of time. These coronary prostheses have been developed with the objective of improving vascular healing and remodeling, and restoring vasomotricity of the treated segment, once the dissolution process is absolved (1). By virtue of their transient nature, fully bioresorbable scaffolds are expected to avoid the late pathophysiological processes associated with permanent drug-eluting stent (DES) platforms, which have been found responsible for an accrual of adverse events over the long term (2).