What do these analyses tell us about bare-metal stenting in the SFA and popliteal artery?
The RESILIENT trial was designed as an intention-to-treat study to compare the results of angioplasty to a primary stent strategy. Patients were randomized to either the angioplasty group or primary stent group following successful crossing of the most distal lesion with a guidewire and uninflated angioplasty balloon. Patients who were randomized to the angioplasty group, but the PTA procedure either resulted in a flow-limiting dissection or significant elastic recoil with a residual stenosis of > 30%, could be treated with a stent (i.e., bailout stent). Per protocol, angioplasty patients who failed repeated PTA attempts and required a bailout stent were considered a target lesion revascularization (TLR) and a failure of primary patency. Although not designed or powered to study the provisionally stented patients (i.e., bailout stent group), two post-hoc subset analyses were performed. The first post-hoc subset analyzed patients according to the treatment received; that is, angioplasty
