ABSTRACT
The number of percutaneous coronary interventions performed each year has expanded considerably since the introduction of coronary stents. Angioplasty procedures doubled in Europe from 1992 to 1996,1 while an estimated 601 000 percutaneous coronary revascularizations were performed in the USA in 1997.2 Stents, certainly a step forward since the invention of balloon angioplasty, effectively prevent the remodeling component of restenosis.
