Midterm follow-up of balloon-expandable ePTFE endografts in the femoropopliteal segment.
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.
Hagenaars
Tjebbe
T
Department of Experimental Echocardiography, Erasmus Medical Center and the Interuniversity Cardiology Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. tjebbus@hotmail.com
Gussenhoven
Elma J
EJ
Smeets
Luuk
L
Moll
Frans L
FL
Buth
Jacob
J
Nevelsteen
Andre
A
van Dijk
Lukas C
LC
van Sambeek
Marc R H M
MR
van Urk
Hero
H
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
D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene