[Interventional angioscopy]

Since 1987, routine angioscopic examination has been performed in 191 patients undergoing angioplasty, with interventions (196) after a 2 year surveillance period (55). Angioscopy allowed follow up "de visu" of the performance of angioplasty, details of its mechanism to be precise and under dilatation to be carried out. For femoral artery occlusions it allowed treatment "à la carte": conventional dilatation of vegetating atheroma, specific treatment of established thrombi (5) and abstention from therapy of atheroma covered by endothelium (3). It also enabled fresh thrombi complicating a stenosis or at the origin of a thrombus to be detected. The extraction technique employed (15) is described. It facilitated catheterization by directing the probe, enabled avoidance of bypassing of stenosis and flaps and of dissection or false introduction into collaterals (10). Directed biopsy could be carried out in inflammatory arteritis (7). Vegetating atheromatous lesions could be opened and extracted, facilitating subsequent dilatation and allowing an approach to removal of iliac artery obstructions without major risks of complications (13). Finally, after an ineffective dilatation or the presence of a dissection, it assisted making the decision to introduce a stent (9), the tolerance and outcome of these stents are described. Or the 196 patients considered suitable for angioplasty, our therapeutic conduct was modified by angioscopy in 58 cases (29%). Not simply a new diagnostic tool, it plays a role in interventional vascular techniques.