Present and future of endovascular SFA treatment: stents, stent-grafts, drug coated balloons and drug coated stents.

The current evolution towards treating more complex femoropopliteal lesions as seen in the renewed TASC II recommendations clearly reflects the continuous evolutions in femoropopliteal stent design. Recent stent design improvements focus on decreasing stent fractures rates which can negatively impact patency rates. By rearranging strut alignment towards helical connecting bridges or full helical stent designs, stent designers have successfully improved the fracture resistance of their stents. The superior fracture resistance of the latest stent generation in combination with the production of long nitinol stents of up to 20 cm in length allow that more difficult and complex lesions can be treated endovascularly. The continuous perfection of nitinol stent platforms followed by the transfer of coronary technologies (e.g. active coatings) towards peripheral devices might broaden the indications for the minimal invasive strategy towards TransAtlantic Inter-Society Consensus (TASC) II C&D lesions.