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Original Report |
1 Department of Radiology, St. George's Hospital, Blackshaw Rd., London SW17
0QT, United Kingdom.
2 Present address: Department of Radiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Ismaninger
Str. 22, 81675 Munich, Germany.
Received December 12, 2001;
accepted after revision February 22, 2002.
Address correspondence to C. Engelke.
Abstract
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CONCLUSION. Peripheral Cutting Balloon angioplasty with the new 6-mm Cutting Balloon device proved useful in the short term for treatment of peripheral arterial stenoses resistant to conventional angioplasty.
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Of those patients treated successfully with conventional angioplasty for neointimal hyperplasia in peripheral bypass graft stenoses, 44-53% have recurrent stenoses after 1 year [3, 4]. Atherectomy can improve the patency of vessels in these patients to 78-88% at 1-2 years [5,6,7]. However, the use of atherectomy devices as an alternative to peripheral conventional angioplasty is limited because of their relatively large diameter and rigidity and the level of expertise required of the user.
Cutting Balloons (InterVentional Technologies, San Diego, CA) are balloon catheters with longitudinally mounted microsurgical blades. These catheters were designed for the treatment of coronary stenoses that are resistant to conventional balloons. We have used the 4-mm coronary device with success for the treatment of small anastomotic neointimal hyperplasiainduced stenosis in the infrainguinal circulation [8]. A larger 6-mm Cutting Balloon, designed for use in femoral, iliac, and subclavian arteries, has become commercially available. We have used this new peripheral device to improve the treatment of peripheral arterial stenoses resistant to conventional angioplasty in patients who are not amenable to treatment with the smaller cardiology Cutting Balloon because of native vessel or graft diameter. These patients would otherwise have undergone repeated stenting, atherectomy, or surgical procedures at our center.
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One patient had postirradiation external iliac artery stenosis 8 years after hysterectomy for carcinoma of the cervix and subsequent pelvic radiotherapy (58.3 Gy). One patient had an iliac in-stent restenosis 2 years after repeated iliac stenting for restenosis. Two patients' lesions were anastomotic stenoses of an aortobifemoral polytetrafluoroethylene bypass graft and a femorofemoral crossover polytetrafluoroethylene bypass graft. One patient had an intragraft stenosis of an axillobifemoral polytetrafluoroethylene bypass. All stenoses were short focal lesions 1-3 cm in length. Clinical indications for intervention were severe claudication when walking a short distance (<50 m) (n = 3) and pain at rest (n = 2).
All five patients presented significant stenoses on color duplex sonography. No patient had concomitant stenoses of the arterial inflow or runoff. A significant stenosis was defined on color duplex sonography as a peak systolic velocity (PSV) gradient (ratio) between the stenosis and the normal vessel segment proximal to the stenosis (V = PSVmax/PSVproximal) of at least 2:5. On angiography, we defined a significant stenosis as a reduction in the vessel diameter by at least 50% using the relation of the minimal intrastenotic vessel diameter to the prestenotic vessel diameter. Patients whose stenoses met both criteria and who had an intraarterial systolic pressure gradient across the lesion of at least 10 mm Hg after intraarterial administration of glyceryl trinitrate were eligible for entry into our study.
The 6-mm (diameter) peripheral Cutting Balloon is a balloon catheter with peripheral vascular specifications that has four longitudinally balloon-mounted microsurgical blades that are exposed during balloon inflation (Fig. 1A,1B). The catheter can be used in combination with 0.021-inch guidewires in an over-the-wire technique. In the peripheral vascular system, 6-mm Cutting Balloon angioplasty is technically analogous to conventional angioplasty. The device requires the use of a 6-French introducer sheath.
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All patients received 150 mg of aspirin the day before intervention. Intraarterial heparin was routinely administered as a 5000-IU bolus after insertion of the 6-French introducer sheath. Intraarterial glyceryl trinitrate in 150-mg doses were injected at the discretion of the operator to prevent arterial spasm and before each intraarterial pressure measurement. After initial diagnostic arteriography was performed, the lesion was crossed using a hydrophilic guidewire (Terumo Europe, Leuven, Belgium) and a 4- or 5-French Cobra catheter (Cordis Europe, Roden, The Netherlands). Conventional angioplasty was first attempted in all patients, using a standard over-the-wire technique with an 0.018-inch guidewire (V18; Boston Scientific International, La Garenne Colombes Cedex, France) and angioplasty balloons having a 6- to 7-mm diameter (Smash; Boston Scientific) with high inflation pressures (12-14 bar).
In all patients, conventional angioplasty was followed by Cutting Balloon angioplasty over the same guidewire. This angioplasty was performed using the Cutting Balloon (diameter, 6 mm; length, 10 mm) with two to three overlapping inflations to cover the entire length of each stenotic lesion. Although the peripheral Cutting Balloon, like the cardiology Cutting Balloon, can be used as a primary angioplasty device, we attempted initial conventional angioplasty in all patients to test the resistance of each lesion. The performance of Cutting Balloon angioplasty in our patients was technically analogous to that of conventional angioplasty using slow balloon inflation. No special centering procedures of the balloon within the vessel lumen were required.
Cutting Balloon angioplasty was followed in four patients by conventional angioplasty to a 6- to 7-mm diameter to restore normal arterial gauge. In each patient, the balloon size that we used for conventional angioplasty was identical before and after Cutting Balloon angioplasty. As a control, digital subtraction angiography was performed after each conventional and Cutting Balloon angioplasty procedure. We measured the systolic arterial pressure gradient across the lesion after injection of a 150-mg bolus of glyceryl trinitrate. The final angiogram showed the Cutting Balloon angioplasty site and runoff vessels for assessment of potential complications such as dissection, occlusion, or distal embolization. Four of the five patients had arterial access from the ipsilateral side; one patient with aortobifemoral graft and stenosis at the profunda femoris artery anastomosis underwent crossover Cutting Balloon angioplasty.
Technical success was defined as improvement in luminal diameter to a residual stenosis equal to or less than 20% and a residual systolic arterial pressure gradient across the lesion of less than 10 mm Hg. Restenosis was defined as a stenosis greater than 50% on angiography or a PSV gradient on color duplex sonography greater than or equal to 2.5. Clinical success was defined as the complete relief or substantial improvement of symptoms. Follow-up in all patients included clinical evaluation and color duplex sonography at 6 weeks after the intervention and repeated at 3-month intervals.
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Initial conventional angioplasty failed in all patients with only minimal improvement of stenosis on angiography and hemodynamic pressure measurements. Cutting Balloon angioplasty decreased the degree of stenosis to below significance in all patients (Table 1). This finding correlated well with the color duplex sonography results (mean PSV gradient before intervention = 2.86 [range, 2.5 to > 4]; all PSV gradients after intervention < 2). To date (follow-up range, 4-9 months; mean, 6.4 months), no local restenoses or occlusions have occurred. All patients responded clinically to the treatment. No patient had recurrent clinical ischemia.
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Cutting Balloon angioplasty has been used for the treatment of coronary in-stent restenosis as a coronary model for neointimal hyperplasia [11]. In a retrospective analysis of in-stent restenosis that compared Cutting Balloon angioplasty, conventional angioplasty, and atherectomy, Adamian et al. [12] found that Cutting Balloon angioplasty had the most favorable outcome (6-month restenosis rates of 25%, 43%, and 34%, respectively). Hence, in complex coronary artery lesions resistant to conventional coronary balloon angioplasty, Cutting Balloon angioplasty offers a reasonable alternative to atherectomy [12].
At our center, we do not use high-pressure (burst pressure, 20 atm) balloon angioplasty for patients with neointimal hyperplasia to test the rigidity of the stenosis and exceed standard pressure in an attempt to achieve a technically acceptable result. Therefore, the burst pressure of a conventional balloon is the definition of failure at our center. We are evaluating whether neointimal hyperplasia of peripheral bypass graft stenosis or in-stent restenosis and irradiation-induced arteriopathyas different pathologic entities from atherosclerotic stricturesrequire mechanical treatments other than conventional angioplasty. Such improvement of mechanical treatments is particularly important because experimental therapies for prophylaxis of neointimal hyperplasia, including gene or radiation therapy, are cumbersome and may only delay the onset of restenosis; these therapies are unlikely to enter clinical practice in the near future, if at all [2].
In peripheral artery lesions that are resistant to conventional angioplasty, using stenting and atherectomy can result in reasonable short-term results [2, 5,6,7]. However, repeated stenting of in-stent restenosis overexpands the arterial wall.
Very rigid intimal lesions and fibrosis do not often respond to high conventional angioplasty pressures (12-14 bar) or repeated stenting [2]. Furthermore, the durability of stents placed below the inguinal ligament is disappointing and precludes their use in distal graft anastomotic strictures. The use of peripheral atherectomy devices is limited by their relatively large bore and their rigidity.
Experience in the use of Cutting Balloon angioplasty in the noncoronary circulation has been limited to the treatment of resistant stenoses in hemodialysis fistulas and grafts [13], in pediatric pulmonary artery branch stenosis [14], and in small anastomoses in peripheral arterial bypass grafts [8]. There is, as well, a single reported case regarding renal artery in-stent restenosis [15]. Complications of Cutting Balloon angioplasty, to our knowledge, are limited to one coronary artery aneurysm after coronary artery angioplasty and focal coronary artery dissections [16, 17].
The advent of the 6-mm peripheral device widens the spectrum of potential Cutting Balloon angioplasty applications to the salvage of larger bypass grafts, in-stent restenosis in renal and iliac arteries, and irradiation arteriopathy or fibrosis in iliac and extremity arteries. Our small series shows a new versatility in classic peripheral artery target vessels above the inguinal ligament or in larger bypass grafts (7-9 mm diameter), and our findings add the peripheral Cutting Balloon to the potential endovascular arsenal for difficult-to-treat neointimal hyperplasiarelated stenoses and other resistant peripheral artery stenoses. Our short-term results are promising but preliminary: peripheral Cutting Balloon angioplasty merits further evaluation in larger studies in comparison with the competing endovascular techniques.
Acknowledgments
We thank J. Martin Bland from our Department of Medical Statistics for his
invaluable advice and help.
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