Treatment of arterial femoropopliteal obstructions with Palmaz midsize stents.

Purpose: To evaluate effectiveness, success and patency rates after endovascular treatment with mid-size Palmaz stents in high-grade stenoses or short-distance occlusions of femoral arteries. Materials and methods: 27 patients with 10 occlusions (average length 3.2+/-1.4cm) and 17 severe stenoses of the superficial femoral artery were treated with 33 mid-size Palmaz stents. The follow-up included Doppler ultrasound at one, three, 6 and 12 months and an angiography at 6 months. Mean follow-up was 6.5 months. Results: Technical success was 100%. The ankle-brachial index improved from 0.57 +/- 0.28 pretreatment to 0.87 +/- 0.13 within 24 hours. Acute stent thrombosis occurred in two patients (<3 weeks). Angiography at 6 months revealed restenosis rates of 7.4% (>50%, n=2). Life-table analysis according to Kaplan-Meier revealed 6-month primary and secondary patency rates of 84% and 91%. Conclusion: With regard to our limited data, the implantation of mid-size Palmaz stents in femoral arteries seems promising in treatment of short-distance occlusions and stenoses of the femoral artery.