Intimal hyperplasia is the thickening of the tunica intima of a blood vessel as a complication of a reconstruction procedure or endarterectomy. Intimal hyperplasia is the universal response of a vessel to injury, it is a restenosis and this is an important reason of late bypass graft failure, particularly in vein and synthetic vascular grafts.
Cause
Intimal hyperplasia is due to a dysfunction of endothelial cells which results in a reprogramming of the vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). As a result, VSMCs proliferate and change their phenotype.
Possible treatment
A possible treatment to avoid this could be hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) works as a vasculoprotective gasotransmitter in human body but is also tested to reduced intimal hyperplasia. There are different kinds of H2S donors: NaHS (the reference in scientific literature despite the fact it is too toxic to use it in human patients) and STS (already used in patient to treat cyanide poisoning).
See also
Hyperplasia
Medical grafting
References
Déglise S, Bechelli C, Allagnat F. Vascular smooth muscle cells in intimal hyperplasia, an update. Front Physiol. 2023 Jan 4;13:1081881. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.1081881. PMID: 36685215; PMCID: PMC9845604.
External links
"Intimal hyperplasia, the obstacle in bypass grafts"