Initial results of transradial iliac artery stenting

Iliac artery stenting is commonly performed via the ipsilateral or contralateral femoral artery. However, transradial intervention is less invasive than the transfemoral approach. We evaluated initial results of transradial iliac artery stenting.

We implanted stents in 32 iliac arteries of 30 patients via the radial artery. Transradial intervention was attempted at the discretion of the operator. Clinical data were analyzed retrospectively. Patients were excluded using a scheduled bidirectional approach. Twenty-one patients were male. In all, 8, 20, 16, and 9 patients had diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and smoking habit, respectively. In all, 30 lesions were stenosed and only 2 were occluded. A total of 39 stents were inserted, of which 36 were E-Luminexx stents and the other 3 were SMART control stents. All lesions were successfully treated with a good final angiographic result via a 6F radial access system. Ankle brachial index significantly improved from 0.68 ± 0.13 to 0.92 ± 0.15 (P < .01). Hospital stay was 2.09 ± 1.12 days. None of the patients had any procedural or access site-related complications (hematoma, major bleeding, blood transfusion, stroke, cholesterol embolism, aortic dissection, or arterial perforation).

Transradial iliac artery stenting is a feasible and safe alternative in carefully selected patients.