Perioperative and late clinical outcomes of percutaneous transluminal stentings of the celiac and superior mesenteric arteries over the past decade

Background: Several authorities have proposed stenting of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA)/celiac artery (CA) as the primary treatment for patients with chronic mesenteric ischemia. However, most of these reports had small samples and short follow-up periods. Methods: Eighty-three patients were treated over a 10-year period. Clinical follow-up and duplex ultrasound exams were done to evaluate long-term patency. We used our newly validated duplex criteria to detect >= 70% in-stent stenosis of the SMA and CA. A Kaplan-Meier life-table analysis was used to estimate freedom from in-stent stenosis and late symptom and survival rates. Results: Fifty-four SMA and 51 CA stents were analyzed. The initial technical and clinical success rates were 97% and 96%, respectively, with 2% procedure morbidity and 2% mortality. The primary late clinical success rate was 59%, and the late >= 70% in-stent stenosis rate was 51% at a mean follow-up of 31 months (range, 1-124). Freedom from late recurrent symptoms at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years was 83, 77, 70, 70, and 65%, respectively. Survival rates at the same intervals were 88%, 82%, 70%, 64%, and 51%. Primary patency rates for the whole series were 69%, 48%, 39%, 28%, and 19% at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years, respectively. Assisted primary patency rates for the whole series were 80%, 61%, 54%, 43%, and 34% at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years, respectively. Primary patency rates for the SMA at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years were 71%, 47%, 37%, 28%, and 18%, respectively; and assisted primary rates were 82%, 64%, 57%, 45%, and 32%, respectively. Primary patency rates for the CA were 68%, 50%, 40%, 29%, and 21%; and assisted primary rates were 79%, 58%, 52%, 42%, and 36% for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years, respectively. There were no significant differences in either primary or assisted primary patency between the SMA and CA (P = .7729 and .8169). A secondary intervention was carried out in 30% of the series. Freedom from >= 70% in-stent stenosis for the SMA was 82%, 65%, 56%, 42%, and 34%, and that for the CA was 73%, 59%, 48%, 34%, and 25%, at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years, respectively. Conclusions: Stenting of SMA/CA stenosis has high technical/early clinical success rates with a satisfactory late clinical outcome; however, it is associated with high rates of late in-stent stenosis and intervention. (J Vasc Surg 2013;57:1052-61.)