Introdução: A angioplastia transluminal periférica com o uso de stents revestidos tem se tornado uma opção viável para o tratamento da doença arterial obstrutiva em casos específicos, principalmente na região fêmuro-poplítea, apesar da incidência significativa de reestenose com papel importante do processo inflamatório. As citocinas são proteínas secretadas pelas células da imunidade natural e adquirida e participam de forma fundamental no processo inflamatório local e sistêmico. Objetivo: Avaliar as concentrações séricas de IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-?, TGF-?1e PCR, além do colesterol total e leucometria antes e após o implante de stents revestidos e a possível associação com a reestenose precoce em pacientes com doença arterial periférica fêmoropoplítea. População e método: Foram recrutados 38 pacientes consecutivos do ambulatório de Cirurgia Vascular e Endovascular do HCFMRP-USP com indicação de angioplastia transluminal periférica nos quais foram utilizados stents revestidos no segmento fêmoro- poplíteo para tratamento de doença arterial obstrutiva periférica aterosclerótica. Todos os pacientes foram acompanhados com exames clínicos e de ultrassom Doppler durante até seis meses após o procedimento com dosagens séricas de citocinas, além da proteína C reativa, colesterol total e hemograma. Foi considerado reestenose estreitamentos maiores que 50% do lúmen do vaso, mensurados, inicialmente, pelo ultrassom e confirmado através da arteriografia. Resultados: Dentre os 27 pacientes que foram incluídos no estudo, 23 não apresentaram reestenose (85,2%) e quatro casos evoluíram com reestenose precoce (14,8%). Nenhuma das citocinas estudadas - IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-? e TGF-? - mostrou correlação com a reestenose (p>0.05). Também não houve correlação do processo de reestenose com a proteína C reativa, colesterol total ou a leucometria (p>0.05). O índice tornozelo-braquial mostrou boa correlação com a evolução clínica dos pacientes. Conclusão: O perfil inflamatório de pacientes submetidos à angioplastia transluminal percutânea periférica com stents de nitinol revestidos de politetrafluoretileno avaliado através das citocinas séricas IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-? e TGF-? mostrou significativo aumento das citocinas pró-inflamatórias logo após o procedimento. Não houve correlação de nenhuma das interleucinas estudadas ou ainda da proteína C reativa com o processo de reestenose. / Introduction: The peripheral transluminal angioplasty with the use of coated stents has become a viable option for the treatment of obstructive arterial disease in specific cases, mainly in the femoral-popliteal region, despite the significant incidence of restenosis with important role of the inflammatory process. Cytokines are proteins secreted by cells of natural and acquired immunity and participate in a fundamental way in the local and systemic inflammatory process. Objective: To evaluate the serum concentrations of IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-?, TGF-?1 and PCR, as well as total cholesterol and leucometry before and after the implantation of coated stents and the possible association with early restenosis in patients with peripheral femoralpopliteal arterial disease. Population and method: 38 consecutive patients from the outpatient clinic of vascular and endovascular surgery of the HCFMRP-USP were recruited with indication of peripheral transluminal angioplasty in which the stent was coated in the femoropopliteal segment for the treatment of atherosclerotic peripheral obstructive arterial disease. All patients were followed up with clinical examinations and Doppler ultrasound for up to six months after the procedure with serum levels of cytokines, as well as C-reactive protein, total cholesterol and hemogram. It was considered restenosis narrowings greater than 50% of vessel lumen, measured, initially, by the ultrasound and confirmed by arteriography. Results: Of the 27 patients included in the study, 23 did not present restenosis (85.2%) and four cases evolved with early restenosis (14.8%). None of the cytokines studied - IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-? and TGF-? - showed a correlation with restenosis (p> 0.05). There was also no correlation of the restenosis process with the C-reactive protein, total cholesterol or leucometry (p> 0.05). The ankle-brachial index showed a good correlation with the clinical evolution of the patients. Conclusions: The inflammatory profile of patients undergoing peripheral percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with polytetrafluoroethylene-coated nitinol stents evaluated through the serum cytokines IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-? and TGF-? showed a significant increase in proinflammatory cytokines soon after the procedure. There was no correlation of any of the interleukins studied or the C-reactive protein with the restenosis process.

Introdução: A angioplastia transluminal periférica com o uso de stents revestidos tem se tornado uma opção viável para o tratamento da doença arterial obstrutiva em casos específicos, principalmente na região fêmuro-poplítea, apesar da incidência significativa de reestenose com papel importante do processo inflamatório. As citocinas são proteínas secretadas pelas células da imunidade natural e adquirida e participam de forma fundamental no processo inflamatório local e sistêmico. Objetivo: Avaliar as concentrações séricas de IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-?, TGF-?1e PCR, além do colesterol total e leucometria antes e após o implante de stents revestidos e a possível associação com a reestenose precoce em pacientes com doença arterial periférica fêmoropoplítea. População e método: Foram recrutados 38 pacientes consecutivos do ambulatório de Cirurgia Vascular e Endovascular do HCFMRP-USP com indicação de angioplastia transluminal periférica nos quais foram utilizados stents revestidos no segmento fêmoro- poplíteo para tratamento de doença arterial obstrutiva periférica aterosclerótica. Todos os pacientes foram acompanhados com exames clínicos e de ultrassom Doppler durante até seis meses após o procedimento com dosagens séricas de citocinas, além da proteína C reativa, colesterol total e hemograma. Foi considerado reestenose estreitamentos maiores que 50% do lúmen do vaso, mensurados, inicialmente, pelo ultrassom e confirmado através da arteriografia. Resultados: Dentre os 27 pacientes que foram incluídos no estudo, 23 não apresentaram reestenose (85,2%) e quatro casos evoluíram com reestenose precoce (14,8%). Nenhuma das citocinas estudadas - IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-? e TGF-? - mostrou correlação com a reestenose (p>0.05). Também não houve correlação do processo de reestenose com a proteína C reativa, colesterol total ou a leucometria (p>0.05). O índice tornozelo-braquial mostrou boa correlação com a evolução clínica dos pacientes. Conclusão: O perfil inflamatório de pacientes submetidos à angioplastia transluminal percutânea periférica com stents de nitinol revestidos de politetrafluoretileno avaliado através das citocinas séricas IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-? e TGF-? mostrou significativo aumento das citocinas pró-inflamatórias logo após o procedimento. Não houve correlação de nenhuma das interleucinas estudadas ou ainda da proteína C reativa com o processo de reestenose. / Introduction: The peripheral transluminal angioplasty with the use of coated stents has become a viable option for the treatment of obstructive arterial disease in specific cases, mainly in the femoral-popliteal region, despite the significant incidence of restenosis with important role of the inflammatory process. Cytokines are proteins secreted by cells of natural and acquired immunity and participate in a fundamental way in the local and systemic inflammatory process. Objective: To evaluate the serum concentrations of IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-?, TGF-?1 and PCR, as well as total cholesterol and leucometry before and after the implantation of coated stents and the possible association with early restenosis in patients with peripheral femoralpopliteal arterial disease. Population and method: 38 consecutive patients from the outpatient clinic of vascular and endovascular surgery of the HCFMRP-USP were recruited with indication of peripheral transluminal angioplasty in which the stent was coated in the femoropopliteal segment for the treatment of atherosclerotic peripheral obstructive arterial disease. All patients were followed up with clinical examinations and Doppler ultrasound for up to six months after the procedure with serum levels of cytokines, as well as C-reactive protein, total cholesterol and hemogram. It was considered restenosis narrowings greater than 50% of vessel lumen, measured, initially, by the ultrasound and confirmed by arteriography. Results: Of the 27 patients included in the study, 23 did not present restenosis (85.2%) and four cases evolved with early restenosis (14.8%). None of the cytokines studied - IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-? and TGF-? - showed a correlation with restenosis (p> 0.05). There was also no correlation of the restenosis process with the C-reactive protein, total cholesterol or leucometry (p> 0.05). The ankle-brachial index showed a good correlation with the clinical evolution of the patients. Conclusions: The inflammatory profile of patients undergoing peripheral percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with polytetrafluoroethylene-coated nitinol stents evaluated through the serum cytokines IL-1?, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-? and TGF-? showed a significant increase in proinflammatory cytokines soon after the procedure. There was no correlation of any of the interleukins studied or the C-reactive protein with the restenosis process.

Purpose of Review: Patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and a high risk of bleeding are not ideal candidates for a polymer-based drug-eluting stent (DES) because it requires 6–12 months of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The purpose of this review is to assess the angiographic and clinical outcomes of polymer-free drug-coated stents (PF-DCS) in stable CAD patients with a high bleeding risk. Recent Findings: Several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have compared angiographic and clinical outcomes of PF-DCS with bare-metal stents (BMS), permanent polymer (PP)-DES, or biodegradable polymer (BP)-DES. However, none of these studies particularly recruited patients with stable CAD and a high risk of bleeding. Furthermore, there are limited data available on duration of DAPT following PF-DCS placement. Summary: PF-DCS has a better efficacy and similar safety as compared with BMS. PF-DCS with dual drug is noninferior to currently available PP-DES. Further RCTs are needed to assess the safety and efficacy of PF-DCS to BP-DES and PP-DES comparing shorter to standard durations of DAPT.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) affects every fifth person in the world. The gold-standard treatment for CAD is stent implantation, however, the existing therapy is not sufficient due to many reasons. For instance, in-stent restenosis, biocompatibility, controlled degradation rate, protein adsorption, and adequate endothelialization are still the main concerns. In the last two decades, the field of stent technology has been grown rapidly and many new stent types and in vitro testing methods for stent characterization have been developed to minimize the aforementioned issues. In this vicinity, there are still many unaddressed issues: i) the quantitative analysis of corrosion is conducted with simpler samples made of stent material instead of stents, in most cases due to the absence of a mathematical model to calculate the entire stent surface area (ESSA); ii) in vitro stent testing in environments that are very far from actual physiological environments; iii) Evaluation of the influence of in-vitro test conditions on coated metallic stents; iv) absence of flow-induced shear stress (FISS) corrosion model, to mention a few. This thesis presents the novel ESSA model, the fluid dynamic experimental setup with the integration of various sensors and pH control, the influence of in vitro degradation behavior of the titanium oxynitride (TiOxNy) coated stainless steel stents and anodized AZ31 samples, and the FISS corrosion model. The results show some important contributions in this field, however, there is still a huge potential for the development of promising stent characterization solutions. / Die koronare Herzkrankheit (KHK) betrifft jeden fünften Menschen auf der Welt. Der Goldstandard bei der Behandlung von KHK ist die Stent-Implantation, doch die bestehende Therapie ist aus vielen Gründen nicht ausreichend. So sind beispielsweise die Restenose im Stent, die Biokompatibilität, die kontrollierte Abbaugeschwindigkeit, die Proteinadsorption und die angemessene Endothelialisierung nach wie vor die Hauptprobleme. In den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten hat sich die Stenttechnologie rasant weiterentwickelt, und es wurden viele neue Stenttypen und In-vitro-Testmethoden zur Stentcharakterisierung entwickelt, um die oben genannten Probleme zu minimieren. In dieser Umgebung gibt es noch viele ungelöste Probleme: i) die quantitative Analyse der Korrosion wird mit einfacheren Proben aus Stentmaterial anstelle von Stents durchgeführt, in den meisten Fällen aufgrund des Fehlens eines mathematischen Modells zur Berechnung der gesamten Stentoberfläche (ESSA); ii) In-vitro-Stent-Tests in Umgebungen, die sehr weit von der tatsächlichen physiologischen Umgebung entfernt sind; iii) Bewertung des Einflusses von In-vitro-Testbedingungen auf beschichtete metallische Stents; iv) Fehlen eines FISS-Korrosionsmodells (flow-induced shear stress), um nur einige zu nennen. In dieser Arbeit werden das neuartige ESSA-Modell, der strömungsdynamische Versuchsaufbau mit der Integration verschiedener Sensoren und pH-Kontrolle, der Einfluss des In-vitro-Degradationsverhaltens der mit Titanoxynitrid (TiOxNy) beschichteten Edelstahlstents und anodisierten AZ31-Proben sowie das FISS-Korrosionsmodell vorgestellt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen einige wichtige Beiträge in diesem Bereich, jedoch gibt es noch ein großes Potenzial für die Entwicklung von vielversprechenden Lösungen zur Charakterisierung von Stents.