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Abstract

Predicting the Risk of Restenosis after Angioplasty in Patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease by Regina E. Roller, Wolfgang J. Schnedl, Christian Korninger

Restenosis is a serious therapeutic problem after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA). Strategies for the prevention of late restenosis include the use of antiaggregatory and anticoagulant drugs, aggressive lipid-lowering, intravascular radiation and others. As some of these therapeutic options are not without side effects it is mportant to identify patients with an increased risk to develop restenosis. Major clinicalty recognizable risk factors for restenosis are advanced disease stage and female gender. Elevated plasma levels of fibrinogen, Lp(a), CRP, and migration-inducing activity appear to indicate an unfavorable clinical outcome, and so does postinterventional increase of vWF and PAI-1 antigen. For peripheral arterial disease, only one study has addressed the influence of homocysteine levels upon the restenosis rate after PTA. Although homocysteine levels were elevated in > 50% of patients at entry, they were not associated with a higher restenosis rate. Currently the available data allow a rough approximation of a patient's individual risk.

DOI: Clin. Lab. 2001;47:555-559