中国组织工程研究,2015,19(8):1284-1288. Biodegradable magnesium alloy stents: disadvantages and research trends Tan Zhi-gang, Zhou Qian, Jiang Yu-gang (Department of Neurosurgery, Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410008, Hunan Province, China) Abstract BACKGROUND: Biodegradable stents are regarded as the fourth revolution in the interventional cardiology after the invention of balloon angioplasty, bare metal stents, and drug-eluting stents. Biodegradable magnesium alloy stent is the focus of biodegradable stent research. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the application status of biodegradable magnesium alloy stents and to discuss the existing shortcomings and research trends. METHODS: A computer-based retrieval of PubMed, CNKI and Wanfang databases between January 2001 and November 2014 was performed by the first author, to analyze the research progress about biodegradable magnesium alloy stents. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Studies on biodegradable magnesium alloy stent in vitro