MANAGEMENT OF ILIAC OCCLUSIONS WITH A NEW SELF-EXPANDING ENDOVASCULARSTENT

Objectives: To determine the patency and acceptability of the Memother m endovascular stent in the treatment of iliac arterial occlusions. Ma terials and methods: Twenty-two patients (12 males and 10 females) und erwent stenting of iliac occlusions of the aortoiliac bifurcation, the common iliac artery and the external iliac artery. All patients were reassessed at 3, 6 and 12 month intervals and then yearly to evaluate their symptoms and Doppler pressure measurements. Comparison was made with results from other studies treating iliac occlusions by angioplas ty alone or combined with stenting. Results: Out of 22 patients, 21 ha d an immediate and sustained improvement over the whole of the follow- up period. The Ankle-brachial Index (ABI) increased from a mean value of 0.49 to 0.81 3-months postprocedure and improved to 0.85 at 12 mont hs (paired t-test p < 0.001). At 6 and 12 months the stent patency rem ained at 95.5%, which compares favourably with other studies. There we re four minor and one major complication associated with the stenting procedure. Conclusions: The Memotherm self-expanding stent is a useful , safe and effective device suitable for the majority of iliac occlusi ons. Further long-term evaluation is warranted to confirm its advantag es over open surgery.