PERCUTANEOUS TRANSLUMINAL STENT PLACEMENT IN THE ABDOMINAL-AORTA

PURPOSE: To retrospectively review and to report the results of stent placement for focal mid-abdominal aortic stenoses. MATERIALS AND METHO DS: During a 4-year period, 10 focal mid-abdominal aortic stenoses wer e treated with stent placement in nine patients (six women and three m en; mean age, 61 years; range, 49-73 years), All of the stenoses were atherosclerotic in nature except for one at the proximal anastomosis o f an aortobifemoral graft, which may have been from fibrointimal hyper plasia. Seven of the 10 stenoses were treated with primary stent place ment, whereas three were treated with stent placement after suboptimal angioplasty. RESULTS: The technical success rate was 100%, Clinical s uccess, defined as complete elimination or improvement of symptoms pre sent before stent placement, was achieved in eight of the nine patient s with a mean duration of follow-up of 1.6 years (range, 0.2-3.0 years ). CONCLUSION: In view of the excellent technical and clinical success , the authors believe that stent placement should be considered as an adjunctive therapy to angioplasty or as a primary method of treatment in properly selected patients with focal mid-abdominal aortic stenoses .