Angioseal use after antegrade femoral arteriotomy in patients undergoing percutaneous revascularization for critical limb ischemia: a case series.

Antegrade femoral artery access is commonly used for percutaneous transluminal revascularization of ipsilateral lower limbs in patients with critical limb ischemia. While hemostasis at the end of the procedure can be achieved by manual compression, this may lead to an increase in local vascular complications. Femoral artery closure devices, such as the Angioseal collagen plug and anchor device, have been approved and shown of benefit after retrograde femoral artery catheterization. To date, there are however no data on the use of such arteriotomy closure device after antegrade femoral access. We hereby report a case series of five patients in whom Angioseal was successfully used after antegrade femoral puncture and below-the-knee percutaneous transluminal angioplasty. In all cases the device enabled immediate and complete hemostasis without major complications, despite the intense antithrombotic regimen, including heparin, aspirin, and clopidogrel in all patients, as well as glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (in two patients) and fibrinolytic therapy (in one).