Dynamic Perfusion Computed Tomography for the Assessment of Concomitant Coronary Artery Disease in Patients with a History of Percutaneous Transluminal Angioplasty for Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia-A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) is associated with high rates of long-term cardiovascular mortality. Exercise stress testing to detect obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) can be difficult in this subset of patients due to inability to undergo exercise testing, presence of balanced ischemia and severe coronary artery calcification (CAC). AIM: To test the feasibility of regadenoson stress dynamic perfusion computed tomography (DPCT) in CLTI patients. METHODS: Between 2018 and 2023, coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) and, in the case of a calcium score higher than 400, DPCT, were performed in 25 CLTI patients with a history of endovascular revascularization. RESULTS: Of the 25 patients, 19 had a calcium score higher than 400, requiring DPCT image acquisition. Obstructive CAD could be ruled out in 10 of the 25 patients. Of the 15 CTA/DPCT+ patients, 13 proceeded to coronary angiography (CAG). Revascularization was necessary in all 13 patients. In these 13 patients, vessel-based sensitivity and specificity of coronary CTA/DPCT as compared to invasive evaluation was 75%, respectively. At follow-up (27 ± 21 months) there was no statistically significant difference in all-cause mortality between CTA/DPCT- positive and -negative patients (p = 0.065). CONCLUSIONS: Despite a high prevalence of severe CAC, coronary CTA complemented by DPCT may be a feasible method to detect obstructive and functionally significant CAD in CLTI patients.

TRIACCESS Study: Randomized Comparison Between Radial, Femoral, and Pedal Access for Percutaneous Femoro-popliteal Artery Angioplasty.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this randomized study was to compare the success and complication rates of different access sites for the treatment of superficial artery stenosis. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 180 consecutive patients were randomized in a prospective study to treat symptomatic superficial femoral artery stenosis via radial (RA), femoral (FA), or pedal artery (PA) access. Technical success was achieved in 96.7%, 100%, and 100% of the patients in the RA, FA, and PA groups, respectively (p=0.33). Secondary access sites were used in 30%, 3.3%, and 30% of the patients in the RA, FA, and PA access groups, respectively (p=0.0002). Recanalization for chronic total occlusion was performed in 34/36 (94.4%), 30/30 (100%), and 46/46 (100%) patients in the RA, FA, and PA groups, respectively (p=0.17). The X-ray dose was significantly lower in the PA group than that in the RA and FA access groups (63.1 vs 162 vs 153 Dyn, p=0.0004). The cumulative rates of access site complications in the RA, FA, and PA groups were 3.3% (0% major and 3.3% minor), 16.7% (3.3% major and 13.3% minor), and 3.3% (3.3% major and 0% minor) (p=0.0085), respectively. The cumulative incidence of MACEs at 6 months in the RA, FA, and PA groups was 5%, 6.7%, and 1.7%, respectively. The cumulative incidence of MALEs at 6 months in the RA, FA, and PA groups was 20%, 16.7%, and 9.2%, respectively (p=0.54). CONCLUSION: Femoral artery intervention can be safely and effectively performed using radial, femoral, and pedal access, but radial and pedal access is associated with a lower access site complication rate and hospitalization. Pedal access is associated with a lower X-ray dose than that with radial and femoral access.

Finding the optimal access for proximal upper limb artery (PULA) interventions: Lessons learned from the PULA multicenter registry.

OBJECTIVE: The multicenter proximal upper limb artery (PULA) Registry was created to study the optimal puncture sites for the interventions involving the subclavian, axillary, and innominate arteries. BACKGROUND: Little is known about the optimal vascular access for PULA interventions, despite the well-known technical complexity of these procedures. METHODS: We performed the retrospective analysis of consecutive patients treated for symptomatic steno-occlusive disease of the proximal upper limb arteries between January 2015 and December 2019 in three high-volume centers. Acute thrombotic occlusions were excluded from the study. RESULTS: Two hundred and seventy-two patients were treated for significant stenosis and 108 for total occlusion. The baseline patient's characteristics were similar, except for the higher median age of the stenotic patients: 68.5 years (31.1; 90.0) versus 64 years (38.0; 86.0) p = 0.0015. Successful revascularization rate was higher in the stenotic group 93.75% (255/272) versus 86.11% (93/108) p = 0.0230, while the procedure length 27 min (8; 133) versus 46 min (7; 140) p = 0.0001 and fluoroscopy times 439 s (92; 2993) versus 864 s (86; 4176) p = 0.0001 were higher in the occlusion group. The main adverse event rate was similarly low. Dual access was used more often to treat occlusions (60.19% (65/108) vs. 11.40% (31/272) p = 0.0001) without significantly increasing the complication rate. The safest access was ultrasound-guided distal radial artery puncture, significantly better than conventional radial access with 0% (0/31) versus 13.6% (18/131) p = 0.0253 complication. CONCLUSIONS: The percutaneous revascularization of proximal upper limb arteries is a safe and effective. Dual access can be applied to increase treatment efficacy, without significantly compromising safety.

Distal Radial Artery Access for Superficial Femoral Artery Interventions.

PURPOSE: To compare the acute success and complication rates of distal radial (DR) vs proximal radial (PR) artery access for superficial femoral artery (SFA) interventions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 2016 and 2019, 195 consecutive patients with symptomatic SFA stenosis were treated via DR (n=38) or PR (n=157) access using a sheathless guide. Secondary access was achieved through the pedal artery when necessary. The main outcomes were technical success, major adverse events (MAEs), and access site complications. Secondary outcomes were treatment success, fluoroscopy time, radiation dose, procedure time, and crossover rate to another puncture site. RESULTS: Overall technical success was achieved in 188 patients (96.4%): 37 of 38 patients (97.3%) in the DR group and 151 of 157 patients (96.2%) in the PR group (p=0.9). Dual (transradial and transpedal) access was used in 14 patients (36.8%) in the DR group and 28 patients (18.9%) in the PR group (p<0.01). Chronic total occlusions were recanalized in 25 of 26 DR patients (96.1%) and in 79 of 81 PR patients (92.6%) (p=0.57). The crossover rate to femoral access was 0% in the DR group vs 3.2% in the PR group (p=0.59). Stents were implanted in the SFA in 15 DR patients (39.4%) and in 39 patients (24.8%) in the PR group (p=0.1). The contrast volume, fluoroscopy time, radiation dose, and procedure time were not statistically different between the DR and PR groups, nor were the rates of access site complications (2.6% and 7.0%, respectively). The cumulative incidences of MAE at 6 months in the DR and PR groups were 15.7% vs 14.6%, respectively (p=0.8). CONCLUSION: SFA interventions can be safely and effectively performed using PR or DR access with acceptable morbidity and a high technical success rate. DR access is associated with few access site complications.

Direct transpedal pressure measurement during transpedal below-the-knee interventions in critical limb ischemia.

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of the distal pressure measurement during transpedal below-the-knee interventions in chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) and to assess the hemodynamic response after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty. METHODS: The clinical and angiographic data of 137 consecutive patients treated via transpedal access in CLTI (Rutherford 4-6) were evaluated. Distal pedal pressure (PP) at the end of the pedal sheath was measured and the pedal-to-aortic pressure index (PAPI) was also calculated before and after the intervention. RESULTS: Good angiographic results was achieved in 131 patients (95.6%) in the femoro-popliteal and at least in one below-the-knee artery. Significant differences were found in PP and PAPI between before- and after-intervention values (103.2 ± 41.6 mmHg vs. 138.2 ± 37.8 mmHg and 0.74 ± 0.29 vs. 1.03 ± 0.34), respectively. Post-procedural PP and PAPI were significantly higher in patients who underwent good and borderline/unsuccessful intervention 141.7 [135.8-147.6] versus 82.6 [33.8-131.5] mmHg and 1.05 [1-1.1] versus 0.53 [0.2-0.8], respectively. PP's are significantly different in various Rutherford classification groups. Among the studied parameters, postprocedural PAPI was found to have the best discriminatory power to predict 3-month amputation (c-statistic: 0.749, 95% CI: 0.546-0.952, p = .016, sensitivity: 57.1%, specificity: 92.3% using the cut-off criterion ≤0.58). Major adverse event was detected in 17 patients at 3 months follow up (12.4%), including 7 major amputations (5.1%). CONCLUSION: Transpedal pressure and pedal-to-aortic pressure index significantly increased during transpedal below-the-knee angioplasty and final pressure and index correlates significantly with limb salvage.