Coronary stents are effective in the treatment of acute complications after angioplasty and the prevention of restenosis. However, complications may arise posttreatment, the major cinical problems are stent thrombosis and restenosis. All coronary stents are imported from western countries and are not covered by medical insurance in Korea. Korean stents should be developed to reduce patient's economic burden.

We placed five Maximum Arterial Re-Creation (MAC) and five Palmaz-Schatz (PS) stents in ten porcine coronary arteries. Stent and artery diameter ratio was 1.3 : 1.0. Follow-up coronary angiogram and histopathologic examinations were performed four weeks after stent overdilation injury.

All of the stented arteries were patent on follow-up coronary angiograms. Angiographic diameter stenosis was 23.1±9.2% in MAC stents and 18.5±12.3% in PS stents and pathologic area stenosis was 35.6±11.4% in MAC stent and 39.8±9.9% in PS stent at 4 weeks after stenting, which were not different between two stents. Maximal intimal thickness (0.28±0.12 vs. 0.36±0.17mm) and neointimal area (1.83±1.01mm² vs. 1.50±0.65mm²) were not different between MAC and PS stent.

MAC stents are as effective as PS stents in the prevention of stent restenosis in a porcine stent restenosis model.