title: Superficial femoral artery occlusion: nitinol stents achieve flow and reduce the need for medications better than balloon angioplasty alone.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nitinol slotted tube stents are of great potential benefit in superficial femoral artery (SFA) interventions due to their elastic properties. However, a paucity of data exists for their efficacy in total SFA occlusions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using the Cleveland Clinic Foundation Peripheral Database, we identified 40 consecutive patients who underwent percutaneous revascularization for chronically occluded SFA and addressed the outcome stratifying for stent use. We evaluated the reduction in the pressure gradient across the lesion and the need for medication following revascularization.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 40 patients, 26 underwent balloon angioplasty alone and 14 received nitinol slotted tube stents. Patients were well matched for age and cardiovascular risk factors. Similarly, there were no differences in baseline ankle brachial index or claudication class between the groups. Compared to angioplasty alone, stenting was associated with a greater reduction in translesional pressure gradient (72 mmHg versus 32 mmHg; p = 0.002). In addition, patients treated with stents were less likely to require post-procedure adjunctive medical treatment (7.1% versus 42.6%; p = 0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In SFA occlusion, stenting results in greater reduction in translesional pressure gradient and reduced need for adjunctive medical treatment.
authors.affiliation: Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois, USA. Icho@lumc.edu
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roffi
authors.forename: Debabrata
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: Deepak L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Bhatt
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bajzer
authors.forename: Jay S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Yadav
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000497:Alloys; D000800:Angioplasty, Balloon; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015607:Stents
chemical_list: D000497:Alloys; C013616:nitinol