Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Stenting: A New Approach to Unresolved Problems in Coronary Angioplasty

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) has been established as a safe and effective procedure for improving blood flow in narrowed atherosclerotic arteries. The stenoses recur, however, in a certain percentage of initially successful cases. Also, PTCA may resolve in abrupt closure of the artery due to intimai dissection and formation of intimai flaps or thrombosis. The purpose of an intravascular endoprosthesis (stent) is to restore and maintain blood flow by nonsurgical implantation via a catheter after transluminal angioplasty.