Apoptosis and oxygen free radicals after interventional reperfusion in acute myocardial infarction: diagnostic value and prognostic implications.

Reperfusion of the infarct related artery is mandatory to salvage the myocardium, and the best way nowadays to achieve this goal is percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). Although important to preserve the myocardium, reperfusion leads to what is called reperfusion injury which decreases the benefits of reperfusion. The process of reperfusion is known to generate oxygen free radicals and activation of apoptosis (programmed cell death) through different mechanisms, both may participate in the pathophysiology of reperfusion injury.