Coating irregularities of durable polymer-based drug-eluting stents as assessed by scanning electron microscopy.

EuroIntervention. 2009 May; 5(1): 157-65Basalus MW, Ankone MJ, van Houwelingen GK, de Man FH, von Birgelen CAims: To classify and quantify post-expansion irregularities in durable polymer-based coatings of drug-eluting stents (DES). Methods and results: Taxus Liberté, Endeavor Sprint, Endeavor Resolute and Xience V DES (three samples of each) were explored by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) following expansion at 14 atm in water. Incidence and size of irregularities were measured during thorough quantitative examinations of a 360 SEM images. DES types examined showed a significant difference in the incidence of irregularities (p