Endovascular treatment of femoro-popliteal obstructive disease.

The systemic nature of vascular atherosclerosis is beginning to involve not only the angiologists and the vascular surgeons, but also the clinical and the invasive cardiologists. Femoral occlusive disease is one of the most challenging field due to the particular anatomical morphology of the femoral arterial wall that is prone to obstructive disease and high restenosis rate after percutaneous revascularization. Acute and chronic arterial diseases are the main clinical scenario involving femoral vessels. Percutaneous techniques include endoluminal recanalization, subintimal recanalization, stent implantation, mechanical and rheolytic thrombectomy, laser angioplasty, and cryoplasty. In this review the authors propose an overview and an update of the most recent advances in techniques and results in the field of endovascular treatment of femoral artery occlusive disease.