ABSTRACT
Introduction Coronary stent implantation has been proven superior to conventional balloon angioplasty for the treatment of coronary de novo lesions (1-4) and by extension has transformed the field of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, despite the advent of stents, restenosis continues to limit the long-term success of PCI. Stenting may evoke an exuberant proliferative healing response compared to balloon angioplasty. The favorable effect of stents in countering constrictive remodeling is therefore, in some cases, offset by the increased neointimal hyperplasia associated with stenting, causing difficult-to-treat in-stent restenosis.
