Experimental and clinical findings demonstrated rather severe arterial lesions occurring in irradiated arteries. It is suggested that a local haemostatic imbalance might be one causative factor. Liberation of PDGF causes smooth-muscle cell proliferation and PGI2 formation by the arterial wall cells, inhibiting in turn further release of PDGF from the alpha granules of the platelets. A decreased ability of irradiated vascular segments to generate PGI2 upon PDGF stimulation described here might cause haemostatic imbalance and subsequent radiation-induced lesions.