THE USE OF HPLC TO EVALUATE THE VARIATIONS OF BLOOD CORONARY ADENOSINE LEVELS DURING PERCUTANEOUS TRANSLUMINAL ANGIOPLASTY

Although it is well established that adenosine is released during acut e ischemia, little is known of the behaviour of adenosine levels follo wing treatment of coronary lesion by percutaneous transluminal coronar y angioplasty (PTCA). Using high performance liquid chromatography, we measured intracoronary adenosine levels before and 5 min after PTCA i n ten patients with one-vessel disease and a significant (> 70%) coron ary stenosis. Adenosine levels decrease in all patients after PTCA. Ne vertheless, more studies are now necessary to evaluate the possible pr edictive value (with regard to restenosis) of coronary adenosine level s after PTCA.