Infrainguinal disease treatment: to stent or not to stent

Infrainguinal endovascular interventions have increasingly played a central role in relieving symptoms of claudication and limb salvage over the last decade. Multiple modalities currently exist for treating these arteries; however, balloon angioplasty with or without stenting still remains the most commonly used technique. Despite the concerns regarding the use of stents with stent fractures and in-stent restenosis, there is increased evidence from randomized and non-randomized studies that use of nitinol stents improves patency rates in most patients with >5 cm long lesions. However, the optimal endovascular treatment of the longest lesions is still debated. Infrapopliteal vessels are still mostly treated with balloon angioplasty, but selective use of bare or drug eluting stents especially in longer lesions is promising. The role of drug-eluting stents, balloons and other debulking procedures for both femoropopliteal and infrapopliteal arteries still needs to be further investigated.