Adjunctive intraoperative linear extrusion (Fogarty-Chin) balloon angioplasty

Eighty-nine patients with 94 stenotic segments (mostly iliac or femoral) underwent balloon angioplasty with the first-generation (no guidewire) linear extrusion (Fogarty-Chin) system, in an adjunctive mode, and the overall long-term patency rate (mean follow-up: 21 months) was 81%. Patients were grouped into those having iliac or superficial femoral artery (SFA) lesions and subdivided according to the length of lesions. The overall primary and late success rates for iliac lesions were 95% and 86%, respectively, and for SFA lesions 91% and 76%, respectively. The primary and late success rates for iliac lesions less than 2 cm were 100% and 96%, respectively, and for iliac lesions 2 cm to less than 5 cm 92% and 80%, respectively. The primary and late success rates for SFA lesions less than 2 cm were 100% and 100%, respectively; for lesions 2 cm to less than 5 cm 100% and 83%, respectively; and for lesions 5 to 10 cm 83% and 67%, respectively. A stratified analysis by vessel and segment length reveals that, in SFA lesions with a segment length greater than 5 cm, there is a significantly lower patency rate (67%) when compared with the combined results of the Fogarty-Chin balloon angioplasty system in iliac and femoral artery lesions less than 5 cm (92%). In comparing the composite results presented in a recent text on endovascular surgery by Moore and Ahn as the base data for the standard coaxial (Gruntzig) balloon system, our results (short and long term) are similar.