Stents, smart stents, and their importance for wireless biomedical applications

A stent is a renowned choice for treating coronary artery disease and other diseases related to artery or vessel blockages. It is a meshed, tube-like supporting scaffold inserted into arteries or vessels where blood flow has become critically restricted to restore normal blood flow. The progressive success of stents has led to the emergence of wireless smart stents. They integrate sensors to perform wireless monitoring of the artery or blood vessel for any obstruction of the blood due to in-stent restenosis (ISR). Additionally, the wireless interface also assists in the wireless powering of the stent. The therapeutic uses of smart stents to cure ISR, explored by many research groups, are also discussed. Particularly, we focus on different types of sensors and wireless technologies used for sensing and wireless transmission of arterial health and overview the limitations of various sensing and wireless technologies of smart stents. Finally, the emerging future technologies that are envisioned to improve present smart stent technology is reviewed.