Glossary

Term referring to local endovascular treatment of atherosclerotic lesions.

In fact, for patients showing clinical and in particular cardiac manifestations of atherosclerosis, the treatment combines dietetic hygiene rules (no smoking etc.), drugs (including platelet aggregation inhibiting drugs) and possibly local treatment of these atherosclerotic lesions.

This local treatment may consist of:

• a surgical operation: aorto-coronary bypass making it possible to divert blood circulation around a stenosed or thrombosed artery.
• or an endovascular intervention: to dilate or unblock a stenosed artery. This is known as interventional treatment; dilatation of the artery or angioplasty may be completed by implanting an endovascular prosthesis known as a stent.