Femoropopliteal artery recanalization: Factors affecting clinical outcome of conventional and laser-assisted balloon angioplasty

✍ Scribed by Henk F. Odink; Hans C. Valois; Bert C. Eikelboom

• Book ID: 104662640
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 581 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1432-086X
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00204143

✦ Synopsis

Purpose:

The clinical efficacy of 44 successful conventional and laser-assisted recanalizations of the femoropopliteal artery was assessed in a noncomparative study by the life-table method.

Methods: Laser-assisted angioplasty using continuous laser and a sapphire probe was performed to achieve primary recanalization in femoral artery occlusions when conventional guidewire recanalization had already failed. Nineteen of the patients underwent a conventional recanalization (PTA; mean length of occlusion 4.4 _+ 4.1 cm), and 25 underwent percutaneous laser-assisted angioplasty (PLA; mean length of occlusion 10.1 _+ 6.7 cm).

Results: There was no statistical relation between the preprocedure Fontaine classification and the success rate in the PTA cases (p = 0.25), whereas there was a statistical relation in the PLA cases: The success rate in patients preprocedurally classified as Fontaine II was better than in those classified as Fontaine III/IV (p = 0.05). After a 3-year follow-up the patency rate in the patients with the PTA recanalizations was 37% and that in those with the PLA procedure was 53%. This difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.47).

Conclusion:

It is concluded that the laser should remain an investigational device.