Occluded peripheral arteries: clinical utility of argon laser recanalization

Optically diverged direct argon laser light energy was used prior to conventional balloon angioplasty to recanalize 30 occluded peripheral arteries in 26 patients. Three of five (60%) iliac and 22 of 25 (88%) femoropopliteal lesions ranging in length from 1 to 47 cm (mean, 17.3 cm) were successfully treated, for an overall technical success rate of 83%. In the femoropopliteal system, 13 of 14 (93%) procedures in lesions less than 20 cm and nine of 11 (82%) procedures in lesions greater than 20 cm were treated successfully. No statistically significant differences in success rate based on lesion site, lesion length, degree of lesion calcification, or severity of peripheral vascular disease were found. Major complications were a laser perforation resulting in treatment failure in one case (3%) and a successfully treated distal embolus in another (3%). No reocclusions occurred in the immediate postoperative period. While long-term follow-up will be required to assess continued patency, this system can potentially increase the number of patients amenable to conventional balloon angioplasty and is currently advocated as an alternative to amputation in patients in whom surgical bypass grafting is contraindicated or unfeasible.