title: Midterm follow-up of balloon-expandable ePTFE endografts in the femoropopliteal segment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the midterm clinical outcome of patients treated with a balloon-expandable polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) endograft for long-segment occlusive disease of the femoropopliteal segment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-nine patients (68 men; median age 69 years, range 43-81) with disabling claudication (n=73) or critical ischemia (n=16) were treated with an ePTFE endograft (mean length 29 cm) for 7 stenosis (mean length 9 cm) and 82 occlusions (mean length 19 cm) in the femoropopliteal segment. The follow-up protocol included Doppler ankle-brachial pressure measurement and duplex scanning or angiography of the endograft at 6-month intervals. Primary and secondary patency rates were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At the last examination, the endograft was patent in 52 patients (median 17 months, range 7-50) and occluded in 35 (median 7 months, range 0-40); 2 patients died of nonvascular causes with a patent endograft at 6.5 and 7 months. At follow-up, the primary and secondary endograft patency rates were 71% and 83% at 6 months, 57% and 69% at 1 year, 45% and 49% at 2 years, and 30% and 44% at 3 years, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The midterm success of this new ePTFE endograft is limited; therefore, the device needs to be refined if this minimally invasive technique is to compete with conventional bypass surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Echocardiography, Erasmus Medical Center and the Interuniversity Cardiology Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. tjebbus@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Tjebbe
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hagenaars
authors.forename: Elma J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Gussenhoven
authors.forename: Luuk
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Smeets
authors.forename: Frans L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Moll
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Buth
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nevelsteen
authors.forename: Lukas C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: van Dijk
authors.forename: Marc R H M
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: van Sambeek
authors.forename: Hero
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van Urk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000601:surgery; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011150:Popliteal Artery / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014654:Vascular Patency
chemical_list: D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene