Radiology, Vol 199, 641-647, Copyright © 1996 by Radiological Society of North America
Flexible tantalum stents for the treatment of iliac artery lesions: long-term patency, complications, and risk factors
EP Strecker, IB Boos and B Hagen
Department of Radiology, Diakonissen Hospital, Karlsruhe, Germany.
PURPOSE: To evaluate the long-term success of tantalum stents implanted in
iliac artery lesions and to determine potential predictive factors of early
and late stent failure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 289 patients, flexible
tantalum stents were implanted in iliac artery stenoses (n - 223) or
occlusions (n - 66). Early and late stent failures were evaluated at 1-79
months (mean, 23 months). Four risk factors were evaluated: lesion type
(occlusion vs stenosis), lesion location (common vs external iliac artery),
lesion length (< 4 vs > 4 cm), and quality of runoff (good vs poor).
RESULTS: The frequency of early stent thrombosis was significantly (P <
.001) higher in occlusions (15.2%) versus stenoses (2.7%), in external
(12.8%) versus common (1.1%) iliac arteries, in long (16.7%) versus short
(0.5%) lesions, and in poor (14.0%) versus good (2.1%) runoff. At
multivariate analysis, runoff and location were influencing factors.
Primary patency rates at 3 and 5 years were 85% and 70%, respectively, for
all stents. Three-year patency rates were significantly higher in short
(88%) versus long (63%) lesions and in stenoses (92%) versus occlusions
(63%). At multivariate analysis, lesion length was the only predictive
factor for 3-year stent patency. CONCLUSION: Stent implantation offers
valuable long-term treatment for atherosclerotic iliac artery disease.
Success can be predicted on the basis of risk factors.
