title: Stenting of the superficial femoral artery after suboptimal balloon angioplasty: one-year results.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to analyze the intermediate results of selective stenting of superficial femoral artery (SFA) lesions after a suboptimal balloon angioplasty result.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed 70 consecutive patients with claudication or critical limb ischemia due to peripheral arterial occlusive disease who underwent stent implantation of the SFA after unsuccessful balloon-angioplasty. All patients were followed-up immediately after the procedure and 3, 6 and 12 months thereafter. Restenosis was defined as an increase of peak systolic velocity-index >2 as determined by duplex sonography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Primary patency rates at 3, 6 and 12 months were 83.4%, 66.2% and 59%, respectively. Successful reinterventions were performed for 17 reobstructions, resulting in a secondary patency rate at 3, 6 and 12 months of 91%, 89.3%, and 83.8%, respectively. At 12 months 68.6% of the patients were asymptomatic, 21.6% complained of mild (Fontaine class II a), 5.9% of severe (Fontaine class II b) claudication and 2.9% were in critical limb ischemia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data indicate that selective stenting of the SFA after suboptimal balloon angioplasty results in intermediate patency rates similar to that reported for primarily successful PTA, thereby supporting the widely accepted policy of selective stenting as a rescue procedure after unsuccessful balloon angioplasty.
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Medicine, Medical Polyclinic, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: T N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Abahji
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tató
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rieger
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Offner
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Will
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hoelscher
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000792:Angiography; D000800:Angioplasty, Balloon / Q000379:methods*; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015607:Stents; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018616:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex