Purpose: Our aim is to report our experience in the endovascular treatment of steno-occlusions of the infrarenal abdominal aorta.
Materials and methods: We selected 19 patients (mean age 66.3 years, range 45-80): five with complete occlusion of the infrarenal aorta and both common iliac arteries (CIAs), four of which were associated with occlusion of the external iliac arteries (EIAs); three with complete occlusion and three with severe stenosis of the distal aorta with occlusion or stenosis of the CIAs and EIAs; and eight with focal severe stenosis of the infrarenal aorta. All patients were treated with direct stenting.
Results: Immediate technical success was 94.7% (18/19 cases). We observed two cases of distal embolism treated with thrombolysis, one case of mild renal failure and one case of transient angina abdominis. During the follow-up (mean 19.6 months; range 6-48), 2/18 (11.1%) occlusions of an iliac stent occurred 1 and 3 months after the procedure (treated with local intra-arterial thrombolysis). The primary patency rate was 88.8% and the secondary patency rate was 100%.
Conclusions: Direct stenting is a feasible and safe option for the treatment of infrarenal abdominal aortic steno-occlusions, especially in patients at high surgical risk, with good early and late clinical results.