Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is a very effective approach to treat coronary artery disease.However,restenosis after PTCA affects 40% to 60% of patients in the months after an initially successful intervention.Although a number of new techniques and pharmacological approaches have been tried to reduce the rate of restenosis,only a few have shown even preliminary efficacy.Radiation therapy seems to provide an interesting,nonpharmacological approach to prevent the restenosis after PTCA during recent years.The experiments and clinical data of this new approach are reviewed in this paper.