Methods for predicting whether or not a patient is likely to experience restenosis after the placement of a bare metal stent are provided. The methods involve detecting and analyzing gene expression patterns of the cellular components of whole blood, where activation of selected genes has been found to be indicative of a high probability of restenosis. The method thus allows the identification, prior to placement of a stent, of patients who are i) likely to experience restenosis, and thus should receive a stent that includes anti-restenosis agents; or ii) unlikely to experience restenosis, and thus should receive a stent without anti-stenosis agents.