Methods and systems for inhibiting vascular inflammation

A method for inhibiting inflammation in a patient's vasculature, said method comprising:

• positioning a catheter within a lumen of a blood vessel of the patient, the blood vessel having had a revascularization procedure performed thereon;
• advancing a needle radially outwardly from the catheter through a wall of the blood vessel and into an adventitial tissue surrounding the blood vessel;
• and
• delivering an anti-inflammatory agent into the adventitial tissue and a perivascular tissue through the advanced needle in an amount sufficient to inhibit inflammation of the blood vessel after the revascularization procedure, wherein the anti-inflammatory agent comprises dexamethasone or dexamethasone phosphate, and wherein the dexamethasone or the dexamethasone phosphate is delivered into the adventitial tissue and the perivascular tissue at a dosage of 0.5 to 2.7 mg per cm of lesion,
• wherein the inhibition or a reduction of inflammation is characterized by a detectable lack of a significant increase or a detectable reduction, respectively, in monocyte chemotractive protein-1 (MCP-1) levels in circulating blood.