CHRONIC ILIAC ARTERY-OCCLUSION - TREATMENT WITH THE STRECKER STENT AFTER PTA

The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the use of per cutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) and subsequent Strecker stent implantation for the treatment of chronic iliac artery occlusions. A total of 39 patients were subjected to this procedure. The occluded ve ssels were catheterized, dilated and subjected to stenting in all pati ents: the length of occlusion varied from 4.5 to 10.5 cm (mean 5.9), l esions were located in common iliac arteries (25), external iliac arte ries (10) and in combinations of both (4). Twenty-five patients presen ted stage II according to Fontaine classification, nine patients stage III and five patients stage IV. The stent was mounted on balloon cath eter and introduced through a 9 French sheet (for 8-10 mm stent diamet er). After this procedure, 37 out of 39 patients showed a statisticall y significant increase in the Doppler sonographic ankle-arm index (AAI ) (P = 0.001) and improvement of clinical symptoms, while in two patie nts a complete occlusion resulted due to long dissection not covered b y the stent in one case and to stent misplacement in the other case. A fter stenting, 27 patients improved to stage I, ten patients to stage IIa and two patients showed no changes. Two complications were observe d: one groin hematoma and one distal embolization. At a 6-month follow -up, a 89.7% of patency was observed. This study shows that Strecker s tent can be successfully employed in addition to PTA to treat occlusio ns of the iliac arteries. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All r ights reserved.