Malapposed, uncovered, underexpanded—intravascular imaging lessons on coronary stent thrombosis

Three decades after the first stent implantation in a coronary artery, contemporary percutaneous interventional techniques have reached very high levels of efficacy and safety. Successive iterations in stent design—from baremetal stents (BMS) to first and second-generation drugeluting stents (DES)—have seen a progressive decline in the rate of stent associated complications.