INFRAPOPLITEAL ANGIOPLASTY - A FORGOTTEN REGION

Although percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) has become establ ished as an endovascular technique - in the more strict sense as a bal loon dilatation but being increasingly supplemented by stent implantat ions - for many vascular regions, reports on infrapopliteal angioplast ies are rather scarce. With the development of hydrophilically coated guide wires, improved catheter materials, and dedicated balloon cathet ers for infrapopliteal use, dilatation treatments distal of the poplit eal artery are now standard procedures. Major advances in peri-interve ntional drug management have also made their contribution. The initial technical and clinical results obtained are excellent. For the majori ty of the patients, the main concern is for limb salvage. In this cont ext, infrapopliteal PTA also achieves satisfactory results. However, t he long-term results must still be considered as unsatisfactory since recurrences are frequent and require repeat interventions. Therefore n ew therapeutic strategies are required that can reduce re-stenoses esp ecially in this peripheral vascular segment.