A survey of stent designs.

Over 100 different stent designs are currently being marketed or are in evaluation for vascular and non-vascular indications. This paper attempts to differentiate stent designs by engineering aspects. A stent design pyramid is presented, which breaks the differentiating aspects into materials, raw material forms, fabrication methods, geometrical features, and additions. The primary distinguishing factor in all groups is balloon-expansion versus self-expandability. Typical examples for each category of the pyramid are shown.