Project Overview
Intimal Hyperplasia (IH) is a vascular disease which may occur in astenosed artery that has been treated with balloon angioplasty or otherwise injured. The vascular smooth muscle cells migrate from the middle to the inner layer of the artery wall in response to biochemical gradients of biological chemoattractants such as platelet derived growth factor (PDGF). It may be initiated or enhanced by biochemicals released from invading inflammatory cells in the normal inflammatory response to injury. Biochemical processes initiated by the denudation of endothelial cells lining the inner artery wall may also affect the IH process. Problems caused by IH include the restenosis of the artery, leaving the patient in the same position they were in prior to their angioplasty.
Comparison of arteries affected by IH:
