[The place of intraluminal angioplasty in a vascular surgery department].

The advent and rapid strides made in the use of percutaneous intraluminal angioplasty (P.I.A.) in the treatment of chronic obliterating arteriopathies of the lower limbs have provoked a great deal of discussion. The exact place of this technique among the various therapies available is assessed in a different manner by radiologists, angiologists, and vascular surgeons. This report attempts to supply answers to two questions posed by certain authors in a more or less implicit manner: what is the importance of P.I.A. in relation to other therapeutic methods, and does P.I.A. have a marked diminishing effect on the need for surgery?