ABSTRACT
Introduction Restenosis has been recognized as the Achilles’ heel of coronary angioplasty.1 It is a limiting factor that occurs in 12-48% of patients who undergo a successful percutaneous coronary intervention.2 The scope of this vexing problem is staggering; of the 500 000 coronary interventions performed in the United States each year, more than 150 000 patients develop restenosis (based on 1997 American Heart Association statistics).
