(December 9, 2015) – Last week, Salina Regional Health Center became the first hospital in Kansas to use a new bioabsorbable polymer drug-eluting stent that promotes faster healing and reduces the risk of future heart complications. The SYNERGYTM Stent was developed by Boston Scientific and gained approval from the Food and Drug Administration in October. The new product is the only bioabsorbable stent available to patients in the United States.

Stents are small mesh tubes inserted to keep arteries open after heart catheterization procedures. Drug eluting stents use a polymer coating that releases a drug over time to prevent blockages from returning to the stent. However, long term exposure to polymer has been linked with complications, including inflammation of the artery and blood clots in rare cases.

With Boston Scientific’s bioabsorbable polymer stents the polymer coating on the stent is absorbed by the body in approximately three months leaving only a platinum chromium strut, which is much more quickly endothelialized or healed over with new cellular tissue. By eliminating the polymer, which modulates drug release, these new stents promote quicker healing and reduce risk of future vascular complications.

“It’s the next iteration in stenting technology,” said David Battin, M.D., a Salina cardiologist. “The patient isn’t going to notice a difference in the procedure, but it does leave less metal behind and improves healing. It also may allow use of shorter duration dual antiplatelet therapy following a procedure, which could be important to someone needing to undergo a separate surgical procedure or alleviate concerns for patients who have bleeding from a GI source.”