Balloon-expandable intravascular stents in atherosclerotic iliac artery stenosis: preliminary experience

Ten patients with symptomatic iliac artery stenosis underwent percutaneous insertion of balloon-expandable intravascular stents. A total of 12 stents were inserted in the common iliac (7 patients) and external iliac (3 patients) arteries. The indications for placement were unsuccessful angioplasty (5 cases), to improve inflow prior to a subsequent distal bypass graft (3 cases) and localized iliac disease in patients deemed unfit for aorto-femoral by-pass surgery (2 cases). Of the 10 patients, five had rest pain and five had severe intermittent claudication at distances varying from 25 to 75 yards, prior to the procedure. Ankle-Arm Doppler systolic pressure indices increased from a mean of 0.61 to 0.91 post procedure. Eight of the 10 patients are asymptomatic at follow-up, average 12 months (range 8-18 months). One patient died from an unrelated cause and the other patient remains symptomatic due to distal disease (Table 1). Our experience suggests that percutaneous insertion of balloon-expandable intravascular stents is a valuable technique for treatment of external and common iliac stenosis.