Angiographic follow-up after suture-mediated femoral artery closure.
OBJECTIVE
Percutaneous closure devices are used in as many as 30% of all endovascular studies. Despite widespread use of these devices, only limited imaging has been performed after percutaneous closure. In this study, arteriograms of patients who had undergone suture-mediated closure with the Perclose device were reviewed.


METHODS
Between June 1998 and November 2001, 31 patients who had previously undergone closure with use of the Perclose device at our institution returned for additional angiographic procedures. Twenty-one patients underwent closure with use of the Perclose device after embolization, including hepatic artery chemoembolization (n = 18), treatment of hypervascular sacral metastases (n = 2), and bronchial artery embolization (n = 1). Nineteen of these patients had thrombocytopenia. Ten patients underwent closure with use of the Perclose device after diagnosis and treatment of peripheral vascular disease.


RESULTS
Of 31 patients, 28 had normal follow-up studies, including one patient who underwent four previous closures. These 28 patients all had normal femoral artery caliber at initial angiography and a platelet count of more than 18,000/mm(3). Two patients with preexisting atherosclerotic change had progression of disease at the puncture site and a third with severe thrombocytopenia developed a small asymptomatic posterolateral pseudoaneurysm.


CONCLUSIONS
In patients with normal femoral arteries, the long-term effects of closure with use of the Perclose device, even performed multiple times, appears to be minimal.
Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University Medical Center, 510 South Kingshighway Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA. brownda@mir.wustl.edu
Daniel B
DB
Brown
Steven T
ST
Crawford
Patricia L
PL
Norton
David M
DM
Hovsepian
D000792:Angiography; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006489:Hemostatic Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013537:Sutures; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000150:complications