Iliac and femoropopliteal vascular occlusive disease treated with flexible tantalum stents.

Two hundred patients were treated with tantalum stents, 2 in the aortoiliac bifurcation, 114 in the iliac, and 84 in the femoropopliteal arteries. The indications for stenting were technically unsuccessful percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) due to arterial recoil, dissection (156 patients), or acute occlusions (15 patients). Long iliac artery occlusions (29 patients) were indications for primary stenting. Life-table analysis revealed a 3-year patency rate of 95% for stented iliac arteries, and a 1-year patency rate of 80% for stented femoropopliteal arteries. Restenosis of the stented femoropopliteal lumen was particularly frequent in stents placed for restenosis following prior PTA (7 of 12 patients), in stents placed into the distal superficial femoral and popliteal arteries (14 of 24 patients), and in stents positioned over a longer than 4-cm artery segment (9 of 16 patients). For the aortic bifurcation and iliac arteries, arterial stenting has proved to be a valuable adjunct to PTA; for femoropopliteal arteries, stenting should be restricted to acute arterial occlusions or severe residual stenosis following PTA.