Most complications that may occur in response to vascular injury of endovascular and open vascular procedures are due to intimal hyperplasia. To a certain extent, intimal hyperplasia is present in all types of vascular reconstruction, including autologous grafts, allografts, and prosthetic grafts found in solid organs transplanted, having a substantial role in chronic rejection and following angioplasty with or without stenting. One of the greatest developments in recent years towards prevention of intimal hyperplasia is the use of ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation inhibits proliferation of many cell types including fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells in vitro, and also suppresses the synthesis of collagen by cultured fibroblasts. Animal models have been a cornerstone to develop strategies aimed at understanding the basic physiopathologic mechanisms of intimal hyperplasia and at evaluating novel treatment strategies for clinical conditions. So, the aim of this study was to analyze animals models of intimal hyperplasia, type of injury, artery segments most used, as to the effects of different kinds and sources of ionizing radiation.
Tunica intima; Disease models; animal; Radiation, ionizing; Radiotherapy