Clinical outcomes after balloon angioplasty with Crosser device for heavily calcified common femoral and popliteal artery disease.

Data on the mid-term clinical outcomes after endovascular treatment (EVT) using a Crosser catheter (C. R. Bard, Inc.) as a crossing or flossing device for a heavily calcified lesion in the common femoral artery (CFA) or popliteal artery (PA) are lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of EVT using a Crosser catheter for isolated and heavily calcified CFA or PA disease. We retrospectively analyzed 64 consecutive patients (72 lesions; CFA 30, PA 42) who underwent EVT for heavily calcified CFA or PA lesions with Crosser catheters between April 2015 and April 2019. The primary endpoint was clinically driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR). The median follow-up was 18.5 months. The mean age of the study population was 70 ± 9.5 years, with a male prevalence of 73.6%. The mean Proposed Peripheral Artery Calcification Scoring System grade was 2.9 ± 0.9. Procedure success, defined as 50% or less residual stenosis without suboptimal results, was achieved in 94.4% of lesions. There were no cases of bailout stenting or target lesion-related complications. After EVT, the 1-year CD-TLR-free rate for CFA and PA lesions was 87.4 and 76.8%, respectively. The corresponding rates at 2 years were 82.2 and 62.8%, respectively. In the multivariate analysis used to define CD-TLR predictors for CFA and PA lesions, hemodialysis was the only independent predictor (HR 3.35, 95% CI 1.02-13.95, P = 0.045). EVT with a Crosser device for heavily calcified CFA and PA lesions seems to be safe and feasible.