[A new method of laser angioplasty by contact sapphire: preliminary results. Apropos of 20 cases].

We report our first 20 cases of peripheral laser angioplasty using an optic fibre with contact sapphire tip. The equipment included a teflon catheter on which was screwed a round sapphire 2.2 mm in diameter. A 600 microns optic fibre connected to a Nd-Yag laser instrument was introduced into the catheter and placed in contact with the sapphire. Twenty patients underwent recanalization of femoral or popliteal arteries occluded on a length of 5 to 45 cm. The sapphire-tipped catheter was introduced by the Seldinger technique up to the site of occlusion. The 15 watt laser emission was set at intervals of one second. Sixteen out of the 20 occluded arteries were recanalized. Among the 4 failures, 3 were due to perforation and 1 to intraparietal progression. Angioplasty was performed with laser alone in 3 cases and with laser completed by balloon catheter in 13 cases. The minimum diameter of the laser-induced channel was 2 mm and was significantly increased (3.8 mm) by complementary balloon dilatation. In the 3 patients who underwent laser angioplasty alone, no noticeable improvement in distal blood flow was demonstrated by doppler velocimetry, and reocclusion occurred either soon afterwards (n = 2) or later (n = 1). Midterm results were much better in patients who had had additional balloon dilatation: early (3rd day) or late (2 months) reocclusion took place in only 3 patients. In the remaining 10 patients, followed up for periods of 1 week to 18 months (mean: 6 months), clinical improvement and recanalization were maintained.