Late thrombosis following intracoronary brachytherapy

Vascular brachytherapy has been the subject of an extensive ongoing investi gation into the safety and efficacy of this technique for preventing resten osis. Preclinical studies have demonstrated reduction of the neointimal pro liferation and the late vascular constriction with radiation therapy. Howev er, radiation is also known to delay the healing process and may contribute to a new phenomenon of late thrombosis. We report on two cases of patients with in-stent restenosis who underwent intervention followed by intracoron ary vascular radiation therapy (utilizing beta and gamma radiation) and pre sented with acute onset of unstable angina. Angiographic study demonstrated late thrombosis, which were treated successfully with the Angiojet thrombe ctomy device. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.