Post-Angioplasty Technique Targets Restenosis
October 2, 2006
Researchers at the Technion Institute, Israel, are developing a new method that may prevent heart attacks following angioplasty, Reuters reported.
Still several years from commercial availability, the technique clears clogged arteries by administering a pill containing a "prodrug” that is only activated when it comes in contact with a specific enzyme attached to the stent. A precise amount of the drug is delivered to exactly the point it is needed.
The objective — in the angioplasty application —is to target swellings of tissue that can form around stents. More than a third of patients with stents develop these blockages in their coronary arteries.
Technion scientists say their technique