The first fully biodegradable coronary artery stent implanted in humans proved safe in a 10-year study published in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal. Stents are mesh tubes inserted into coronary arteries to help prop them open and allow for blood flow to the heart muscle. The biodegradable Igaki-Tamai stent is used in nine European Union countries and Turkey- but not in the United States - to treat peripheral artery disease (PAD), the disorder which results from fatty deposits that narrow leg arteries...

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