Percutaneous treatment of complete chronic occlusions of the superficial femoral artery

12-month primary patency rates of contemporary endovascular device therapy for femoro-popliteal occlusive disease in 6,024 patients: beyond balloon angioplasty

BACKGROUND

Endovascular approach to superficial femoral artery (SFA) disease, the most common cause of symptomatic peripheral arterial disease, remains fraught with high failure rates. Newer devices including second-generation nitinol stents, drug-coated stents, drug-coated balloons, covered stents, cryo-therapy, LASER, and directional atherectomy have shown promising results. Clinical equipoise still persists regarding the optimal selection of devices, largely attributable to the different inclusion criteria, study population, length of lesions treated, definition of "patency" and "restenosis," and follow-up methods in the pivotal trials.

METHODS

A prospective protocol was developed. We performed a literature search using PubMed from January 2006 to November 2013. Published articles including endovascular interventions in SFA or popliteal arteries with reported 12-month "primary patency" or "binary restenosis" rates as endpoints were included.

RESULTS

We identified 6,024 patients in 61 trials reporting 12-month primary patency rates in patients with femoropoliteal disease. Primary patency rates were (weighted average) 77.2% for nitinol stents, 68.8% for covered stents, 84% for drug eluting stents, 78.2% for drug eluting/coated balloon, 60.7% for cryoballoon, 51.1% for LASER atherectomy, 63.5% for directional atherectomy and 70.2% with a combination of endovascular devices.

CONCLUSION

The most frequently used endovascular devices yielded various 12-month primary patency rates ranging from 51% to 85%. The increased variation in inclusion criteria, length, and complexity of lesions between studies does not allow direct comparison between them. Larger randomized trials in specific patient populations comparing those modalities is needed before we can make safe recommendation of the superiority of one device over the other.

Assessment of effectiveness of endovascular treatment of common and external iliac artery stenosis/occlusion using self-expanding Jaguar SM stents

The goal of this work was to assess the effectiveness of endovascular treatment of common and external iliac artery stenosis/occlusion classified according to TASC using a self-expanding stent Jaguar SM. The study group included 95 patients (61 men and 34 women) who underwent treatment for stenosis or occlusion of lower limb arteries at the Department of Radiology of the University Hospital in Bialystok and the Diagnostic Radiology Department of the Central Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Interior (MSWiA) in Warsaw between 2005 and 2007. All arterial lesions were of atherosclerotic etiology. The shortest stenotic fragment was 10 mm long and the longest occluded arterial fragment did not exceed 90 mm. Morphological classification of iliac artery lesions in treated patients was performed according to TASC II classification and included 10 patients with type A, 39 cases of type B, 36 with type C and 10 patients with type D lesions. Endovascular procedure failed to restore flow in five patients with TASC type D lesions, who were later referred for surgery. One patient suffered a complication – vessel perforation during predilatation, and had a stentgraft implanted. In 95% of patients stents were expanded using a balloon after implantation. Good results were achieved in practically all patients who underwent stent implantation. Patients were subjected to follow-up clinical and imaging evaluation during next 1–24 months. Success rate of the performed procedures as well as in a 30-day observation period was 100% in case of stenosis and 80% in case of vessel occlusion. A follow-up after 12 and 24 months showed patency of treated vessels in 84% and 76% of patients, respectively.

Recanalisation of thrombotic arterial occlusions with rotational thrombectomy

PURPOSE

This study sought to assess the effectiveness of rotational thrombectomy (RT) with the Rotarex device in the treatment of thrombotic occlusions in native arteries, by-pass grafts, stents and stent-grafts.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Over the last 4 years, 22 patients (14 men and 8 women; mean age 62.6 years) affected by 5 acute (<14 days) thrombotic occlusions of the native arteries (4 plaque thromboses in the common iliac artery and one on a dissection intimal flap of the external iliac artery), 17 subacute and chronic thromboses affecting 4 femoro-popliteal by-pass grafts, 10 stents (7 in the common iliac artery and 3 in the superficial femoral artery) and 3 stents-grafts were studied. Acute thromboses of native arteries were follow-up with colour-Doppler ultrasound (US) examination at 1 and 3 months. Subacute and chronic thrombotic occlusions were follow-up with colour-Doppler US examination at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months and yearly thereafter.

RESULTS

Immediate technical success was achieved without any need for additional procedures in all acute occlusions of native arteries (4/22 cases). In the subacute and chronic occlusions, the procedure was completed with percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) (8/22), cutting balloon (6/22) and stenting (5/22). The complication rate was 4.8% (1 rupture of the external iliac artery repaired with a stent-graft).

CONCLUSIONS

Arterial recanalisation with RT is the treatment of choice for acute thrombosis of healthy native arteries (4-7 mm); the treatment of thrombosis complicating calcified plaques or dissection intimal flaps may cause rupture of the arterial wall. In subacute and chronic occlusions of by-pass grafts, stents and stent grafts, additional procedures are necessary to achieve complete recanalisation.