Endoluminal Beta-Radiation Therapy for the Prevention of Coronary Restenosis after Balloon Angioplasty

Arterial renarrowing after angioplasty, or restenosis, occurs in 30 to 40 percent of patients and results from neointimal proliferation and constrictive remodeling of the injured artery. 1 A number of trials that took pharmacologic approaches to the prevention of restenosis have evaluated more than 20 candidate drugs, but the results so far have been disappointing. 2 Coronary stenting has led to a 30 to 50 percent decrease in the rate of restenosis, primarily by preventing the constrictive remodeling of the artery, but at the cost of an increase in neointimal proliferation. 3 – 5 Thus, a new technique for treatment that could prevent both . . .