Bioresorbable Scaffolds in Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy—Searching for the Holy Grail

Excerpt

We read with great interest the article by Pighi et al. [1] that presented the Cardiac Allograft Reparative Therapy (CART) study, a prospective multicenter clinical trial to evaluate the performance of the Absorb™ bioresorbable scaffold (BVS) for treating cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV). Determining the best approach to treating CAV—the leading cause of death after heart transplantation—is a serious, yet unmet, need [2]. Introducing BVS into treatment might produce a paradigm shift in focal CAV management. A platform that provides transient arterial support, delivers an anti-proliferative drug, and can avoid chronic local inflammatory reactions due to a permanent “metallic cage” is a potentially revolutionary approach to focal CAV. The Absorb BVS is the most studied platform [3]. It is composed of a fully bioresorbable polymeric scaffold with a coating that elutes everolimus, which is an immunosuppressive agent that reduces the incidence and progression of CAV [2]. …