[Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of subclavian, axillary and brachiocephalic trunk arteries. Apropos of 18 patients].

The authors report the immediate and mid term results of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of stenosis of the subclavian (16 cases), brachiocephalic (1 case) and axillary arteries (1 case) in a series of 18 patients. These lesions were responsible for isolated ischaemia of the arm in 6 cases, vertebrobasilar insufficiency in 6 cases and an association of the two presentations in 2 cases; in 4 asymptomatic patients, the procedure was undertaken to maintain cerebral perfusion. A technical success was obtained in all cases, with one femoral haematoma and one episode of transient visual disturbance, which were spontaneously regressive, as the only complications. The good results were sustained clinically at the end of follow-up (4 to 40 months, average 17.7 months) in 13 of the 14 patients who were followed up. The symptoms recurred after 26 months in the final case which led to the diagnosis of restenosis which was successfully redilated.