title: Preliminary results after application of absorbable metal stents in patients with critical limb ischemia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report the preliminary 3-month follow-up of a recently developed absorbable metal stent (AMS) for treatment of infrapopliteal lesions in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Between December 2003 and January 2004, 20 patients (10 men; mean age 76 years, range 59-96) with symptomatic critical limb ischemia (CLI) due to high-grade (80% to 100%) infrapopliteal stenoses received 1 or 2 AMS devices for suboptimal angioplasty. Clinical examination and color-flow duplex imaging were performed in all patients at discharge and at 1 and 3 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Angiographic procedural success was achieved in all 20 patients. One patient died (non-procedure-related) during the periprocedural period. Three months after the procedure, primary clinical patency was 89.5% (17/19). No major or minor amputation was necessary in any of the patients, yielding a limb salvage rate of 100%. The average improvement in Rutherford class was 2.3 at the 3-month assessment. A comparison of postprocedural and 1-month color-flow duplex ultrasound and magnetic resonance images clearly indicated the ongoing absorption process of the AMS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After 3 months, the primary clinical patency and limb salvage rates suggest a potentially promising performance of these AMS devices in the treatment of below-knee lesions in CLI patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Imelda Hospital, 9820 Bonheiden, Belgium. patrick.peeters@imelda.be
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Peeters
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bosiers
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Verbist
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deloose
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Heublein
mesh_terms: D020341:Absorbable Implants; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000800:Angioplasty, Balloon / Q000379:methods; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007511:Ischemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply*; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015607:Stents; D016896:Treatment Outcome