Post-intervention vessel remodeling

By-pass surgery and percutaneous transluminal (coronary) angioplasty, PT(C)A, are standard techniques for the treatment of vascular occlusions. Their usefulness is limited by by-pass graft failure and restenosis occurring after the procedures. Twenty percent of patients treated with PTCA/PTA need a new revascularization procedure within 6 months, despite a successful procedure. Stents are used to prevent restenosis in selected lesions, but in-stent restenosis also remains an important clinical problem. In this review we discuss progress of gene therapy for the treatment of post-PT(C)A restenosis, in-stent restenosis and by-pass graft stenosis over the last 2 years (2000-2002).