Intimal Hyperplasia: The Mechanisms and Treatment of the Response to Arterial Injury

All forms of arterial reconstruction involve vessel wall injury and repair of the injury by cells from adjacent normal tissues repair and possibly by circulating precursor cells. Intimal hyperplasia is the hallmark of this healing process, often resulting in significant luminal narrowing that predisposes the repair to failure. Since intimal hyperplasia affects 15-30% of all arterial interventions, strategies to control this injury response would have significant clinical impact (1).