CHICAGO – A hybrid approach combining external iliac endarterectomy with stenting may offer vascular surgeons a more robust option to stenting alone or aortofemoral bypass in patients with critical limb ischemia.
“Hybrid-based iliofemoral endarterectomy provides a minimally invasive option for revascularization, producing robust inflow restoration and low perioperative morbidity,” study author Dr. Crystal Kavanagh of St. Joseph Mercy Health Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., said.
Patrice Wendling/Frontline Medical News
Dr. Crystal Kavanagh
The 5-year retrospective series, presented here at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society, earned the prestigious Szilagyi Award for best clinical research.
Dr. Kavanagh and her colleagues crafted the hybrid technique because conventional open approaches in managing external iliac occlusive disease are associated with considerable morbidity. At the same time, long or multisegmental external iliac-to-femoral arterial lesions treated with stenting alone have produced poor patency and typically require additional outflow procedures, she explained.
The technique uses external iliac endarterectomy, aided with a traditional moll-ring stripper. A longitudinal, femoral cut-down is completed. A wire is advanced through the ipsilateral external iliac artery into the aorta after heparinization and obtaining access via an 18-gauge micropuncture in the common femoral artery. Intraluminal positioning is confirmed and a moll-ring endarterectomy is completed over the wire using a balloon to create the distal transection point, Dr. Kavanagh explained. The moll-ring is sized to the maximum diameter that will be accommodated by the ring.
After partially deflating the balloon, the plaque is extracted. A long-segment endarterectomy is typically completed, leaving a widely patent external iliac artery, she said.
In cases where adjunct iliac stenting is required, such as a proximal dissection flap, the stent size is larger than what is typically placed with stenting alone, Dr. Kavanagh observed.
The 2007 TASC (TransAtlantic InterSociety Consensus) recommendations suggest that TASC A lesions should undergo endovascular treatment as first-line therapy, while TASC D lesions should undergo traditional open surgical bypass.
Consensus has been slow to form for TASC B and C lesions, although most TASC B lesions undergo endovascular treatment and most TASC C lesions undergo open bypass.
Among the 40 limbs in the series, a common iliac (CI) artery stent (mean diameter, 8 mm: mean length, 59 mm) was placed in 19 limbs; a CI-to-external iliac (EI) stent (mean diameter, 10 mm; mean length, 100 mm) in 7 limbs; and an EI stent (mean diameter, 10 mm; mean length, 100 mm) in 21 limbs.
None of the iliac lesions were TASC category A or B, 17% were TASC C, and 83% TASC D. Concomitant infrainguinal disease of these patients had femoral/popliteal lesions, of which 16% were type A, 33% type B, 19% type C, and 32% type D.
Half of the 33 patients had three-vessel runoff, 33% two-vessel runoff, and 17% single-vessel runoff.
The hybrid procedure was completed as planned in all 40 limbs, Dr. Kavanagh said. There was no intraoperative or 90-day mortality.
Perioperative complications were minimal, with a 30-day readmission rate of only 12%, she said. This included one patient with one-vessel run-off who re-presented with ischemia requiring common femoral-to-below-the-knee popliteal bypass.
A second patient was admitted at postoperative day 47 with an infected pseudoaneurysm requiring patch angioplasty revision, for a 90-day readmission rate of 15%.
“Concerns about potential plaque rupture or hemorrhage can easily be dealt with via a covered stent graft, given intraluminal wire access throughout the procedure,” senior author Dr. Abdulhameed Aziz said in an interview.
Significant gains were made from baseline in postoperative ankle-brachial index (mean, 0.4 vs. 076; P less than .001), as well as in toe pressures (mean, 32 mm Hg vs. 60 mm Hg; P less than .001), Dr. Kavanagh said.
After a median follow-up of 13 months, primary patency was 100%.
“Combined common femoral endarterectomy with iliac stenting has demonstrated comparable patency to operative bypass in the short term,” she said.
“We theorize that the longer-segment endarterectomy, in our case essentially going from the iliac bifurcation to the common femoral, may produce a more durable result ... Stenting the proximal transection point may prevent restenosis.”
The authors reported no financial disclosures.