ABSTRACT
Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) has become a wellestablished therapy in the management of coronary artery disease. The Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation (BARI) reported an equivalent 7year survival rate for PTCA and bypass surgery in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease.1 However, PTCA causes vessel injury, initiating a healing response, which is mainly due to negative vessel remodeling and neointima proliferation and leads to narrowing of the lumen of the vessel wall and hence to a high incidence (30-50%) of restenosis.1
