Advances and prospects of degradable drug-eluting gastrointestinal stents

Li Nan; Fan Huijuan; Liu Taotao; Xia Shihai

doi:10.12307/2025.458

Abstract：BACKGROUND:At present,the clinical application of gastrointestinal stents is relatively common.Conventional self-expanding metal and plastic stents have the problems of easy displacement,difficulty to remove,and postoperative restenosis.With the advantages of biodegradability and low postoperative restenosis rate,biodegradable drug-eluting stents have become the hot spot in the research of gastrointestinal stents. OBJECTIVE:To summarize the research progress of biodegradable drug-eluting gastrointestinal stents and to provide a forecast of biodegradable drug-eluting gastrointestinal stents. METHODS:Relevant articles were retrieved on CNKI,WanFang,PubMed,and Web of Science databases from January 1994 to March 2024.The Chinese and English search terms were"biodegradable,drug-eluting stent,esophageal stent,biliary stent,pancreatic duct stent,intestinal stent,gastrointestinal stent."Finally,64 articles were included for review and analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Biodegradable drug-eluting gastrointestinal stent is a medical device that uses biodegradable material as the main body of the stent,carries and locally elutes drugs for different therapeutic purposes,and plays the dual roles of physical support and drug therapy.By adjusting the properties of stent materials,improving manufacturing processes and auxiliary means,the degradation rate of stents can be accelerated or slowed down to meet clinical needs.Drug elution technology uses drug coatings,nanoparticles,and polymer drug-loaded films,as drug-loading platforms to accurately release drugs,increase local drug concentrations in lesions,and reduce drug loss and systemic absorption of toxic drugs.(2)The main structure of biodegradable drug-eluting gastrointestinal stent is one or more functional drugs combined with biodegradable polymers,metals or nanofiber materials.The available functional drugs are divided into anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative,antitumor,lithotripsy,and enzyme inhibitors.(3)Maintaining the stability of the mechanical properties of gastrointestinal stent and precise controlled drug release are the problems that need to be solved at this stage of biodegradable drug-eluting gastrointestinal stent.The development of new biodegradable materials and the continuous innovation of drug-carrying and drug-releasing methods,manufacturing processes and auxiliary means are the future research directions.