A balloon-tipped catheter is guided through to the site of clot or obstruction in the diseased areterial blood vessel and inflated several times. Although angioplasty is an rapidly effective, less invasive therapy to treat coronary artery disease, the limitation is a high rate of restenosis, or a re-narrowing of a treated artery, which generally requires retreatment, either by repeat angioplasty or finally by CABG procedure. Restenosis is typically defined as a renarrowing of an arterial blood vessel within six months of an angioplasty, CABG, or other vascular procedure. Restenosis may occur within a short period after a procedure or may develop over the course of months or years. Of all the nonsurgical treatments that have been used in an effort o improve angioplasty, implantable stents have had the greatest success.
Stents maintain the diameter of the artery by mechanically supporting the diseased site.
The use of arterial stents after angioplasty procedures still has certain drawbacks. Not only are they permanent implants that may result in unforeseen long-term adverse effects, but they cannot be used in coronary arteries that are tortuous, narrow, or small. In addition, restenosis may still occur, often requiring even more aggressive procedures to restore arterial blood flow. Coronary artery radiation therapy. The use of low dose radiation therapy is emerging as a highly promising treatment to inhibit restenosis.