PALMAZ stent in the treatment of peripheral arterial disease

To overcome problems associated with angioplasty, placement of a balloon-expandable vascular prosthesis was studied. Two hundred sixty-eight patients had a stent or stents implanted for reasons of restenosis, occlusion or dissection. One hundred forty-eight patients presented with iliac lesions, 108 with femoro-popliteal lesions and 12 patients had lesions within bypass grafts. Patients were followed up for an average of 19.89 months with angiographic, Doppler ultrasound and clinical evaluation. Only five cases of restenosis were not able to be corrected by secondary angioplasty. The primary patency rate at 3 years for iliac stents was 91%, and for femoropopliteal lesions was 72%. Secondary patency rates did not differ appreciable for femoropopliteal and iliac lesions and for stenoses and occlusions.