A comparison study of self-expandable stents vs balloon angioplasty alone in femoropopliteal artery occlusions.

In a group of 26 patients percutaneous transluminal (balloon) angioplasty (PTA) and stents (Wallstents) were applied and in another 26 matched patients PTA alone was used as primary treatment for femoropopliteal occlusions of 3 cm or longer. Five patients with stents showed early thrombosis necessitating catheter thrombolysis and/or thrombus aspiration. Ten patients had recurrent stenoses within 12 months, mostly due to neointimal hyperplasia. Following three late catheter reinterventions, a cumulative secondary patency rate of 69% was achieved after 12 months. The group of patients treated by PTA alone showed a 12 months patency rate of 65% without reinterventions. In 8 other patients, stents were inserted for recurrent obstructive or PTA-resistant lesions, and similar results as with the stents above were obtained. Thus, these stents do not improve primary results of PTA in femoropopliteal occlusions but may be useful secondarily after unsuccessful PTA.