Drug eluting stents were first developed in an attempt to prevent or address the issue of restenosis. Drug eluting stents consists of three parts namely, a stent platform, a coating of polymer that binds the drug to the stent and releases the drug and the stent itself .

The basic mechanism of drug delivery from a drug eluting scaffold involves encapsulating a drug in a polymer that either allows the drug to diffuse outward from it or that undergoes degradation in order to release the drug directly. For long term effects, non –biodegradable stents are the most commonly used stents. There are a wide variety of stents available and they are used for different purposes and procedures in the field of medicine. Vascular and biliary stents, expandable coronary stents and there are also simple plastic stents which is used to allow the flow of urine between kidney and the bladder. Drugs such as dexamethasone ,betamethasone, heparin, hirudin, tocopherol, angiopeptin are delivered via stents.