Does stent placement improve the results of ineffective or complicated iliac artery angioplasty?
OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to determine the results and complications of stents placed for initially unsuccessful or complicated iliac percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), the effect of location (external iliac or common iliac) on outcome, and the influence of superficial femoral artery patency on benefit. DESIGN: From 1992 through 1997, 350 patients underwent iliac artery PTA at the authors’ institutions. Of this group, 88 patients (88 arteries) had one or more stents placed after PTA (140 stents in total) for residual stenosis or pressure gradient (63 patients), iliac dissection (12 patients), long-segment occlusion (10 patients), or recurrent stenosis (3 patients). Thirty patients required the placement of more than one stent. The indications for PTA in these 88 patients were claudication (48 patients) and limb-threatening ischemia (40 patients). Forty-seven patients had stents placed in the common iliac, 29 patients had stents placed in the external iliac, and 12
