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After an angioplasty, the patient’s arteries are frequently kept open with
stents. But these metal supports have a nasty habit of rupturing or clogging up
the veins. Now Hideo Tamai of the Shiga Medical Center in Japan has devised a
dissolving stent that will provide support for six months, but disappear within
two years. He tested the biodegradable stents, made of poly-L-lactic acid, on 15
patients, none of whom reported problems with them (Circulation, vol
102, p 399).