Management of iliac occlusions with a new self-expanding endovascular stent

Objectives: To determine the patency and acceptability of the Memotherm endovascular stent in the treatment of iliac arterial occlusions. Materials and methods: Twenty-two patients (12 males and 10 females) underwent stenting of iliac occlusions of the aortoiliac bifurcation, the common iliac artery and the external iliac artery. All patients were reassessed at 3, 6 and 12 month intervals and then yearly to evaluate their symptoms and Doppler pressure measurements. Comparison was made with results from other studies treating iliac occlusions by angioplasty alone or combined with stenting. Results: Out of 22 patients, 21 had an immediate and sustained improvement over the whole of the follow-up period. The Ankle-brachial Index (ABI) increased from a mean value of 0.49 to 0.81 3-months postprocedure and improved to 0.85 at 12 months (paired t-test p < 0.001). At 6 and 12 months the stent patency remained at 95.5%, which compares favourably with other studies. There were four minor and one major complication associated with the stenting procedure. Conclusions: The Memotherm self-expanding stent is a useful, safe and effective device suitable for the majority of iliac occlusions. Further long-term evaluation is warranted to confirm its advantages over open surgery.