Results from a multicenter retrospective study of transradial iliac artery stenting in Japan

Large-scale multicenter studies demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of transradial iliac artery stenting are lacking. We evaluated the data from a multicenter database in Japan. Transradial iliac artery stenting was performed on 115 lesions in 105 patients. The approach site was determined at the discretion of the operator. Patients with scheduled multiple sheath insertions for the bidirectional approach were excluded. Clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. The average age of this cohort was 71.1 ± 8.3 years. Eighty-six patients (81.9%) were male. Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and smoking habit were present in 39 (37.1%), 84 (80.0%), 69 (65.7%), and 78 patients (74.3%), respectively. Rutherford classifications 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 comprised 40 (34.8%), 42 (36.5%), 28 (24.3%), 3 (2.6%), and 2 (1.7%) lesions, respectively, while Trans-Atlantic Inter-Society Consensus II classifications A, B, C, and D comprised 74 (64.3%), 21 (18.3%), 15 (13.0%), and 5 (4.3%), respectively. Twenty-seven lesions (23.5%) had chronic total occlusion. All lesions were successfully treated with 141 stents. Four patients (3.8%) required additional puncture of the common femoral artery for successful stent implantation. The ankle-brachial index significantly improved from 0.65 ± 0.17 to 0.95 ± 0.15 (P < 0.0001). None of the patients experienced any procedural or access site-related complications. Asymptomatic radial artery occlusion was observed in three cases (2.9%) after the procedure. There were no target lesion revascularizations or complications at 1 month. Compared to the traditional transfemoral approach, transradial iliac artery stenting is safe and feasible without any specific complications in carefully selected patients.