Drug-eluting stents and late adverse clinical outcomes lessons learned, lessons awaited.

ndothelial cells form a continuous syncytium that sepaates the intravascular and extravascular space. The endohelium is a selectively permeable and metabolically active ascular component that regulates important pathophysioogical processes such as hemostasis, thrombosis, and synhesis of growth factors, nitric oxide, and matrix proteins. ndothelial dysfunction is one of the earliest events in therogenesis and is often mediated by endothelial cell njury induced by a variety of cardiovascular risk factors. isruption and damage of the endothelium, such as that hich occurs during percutaneous coronary intervention, ltimately results in a predictable regeneration of the endohelium. However, if the injury is excessive, prolonged, or of nature that limits normal healing, as is clearly documented ith brachytherapy, late clinical events will occur, albeit ith low incidence but increasing frequency, even with dual ntiplatelet therapy.