Optimization of Long Superficial Femoral Artery Percutaneous Transluminal Angioplasty by Intraoperative Doppler Ultrasound

Background: Residual stenosis and dissections occurring after femoro-popliteal percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) can compromise vessel patency and should therefore be properly dealt with at the time of the index procedure. Sometimes, the decision to optimize the PTA result may be challenging because it is based on evidence from angiography which, as a bi-dimensional imaging technique, has well-known limitations. Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate whether an intraoperative Doppler ultrasound (DUS) assessment of femoro-popliteal lesions that have undergone PTA allows for a more accurate definition of technical success compared to angiography. This was assessed through the identification of those lesions that, despite fulfilling angiographic criteria for technical success, have a functional relevance at DUS. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data from 62 patients who had undergone femoro-popliteal PTA and intraoperative DUS were retrieved. The procedures were performed at two referral hospitals for peripheral interventions between 2018 and 2019. The selected patients had 48 residual stenoses in the range of 40–50% and 14 grade-C dissections. Results: The mean lesion length was 211 ± 85.2. Angiography-based and DUS-based technical success matched 41 lesions (66%). The remaining 21 lesions, which had abnormal DUS, were successfully optimized by post-dilatation or stenting in 19 cases. Finally, after PTA optimization, DUS-based and angiography-based technical success matched 95% of cases. Conclusions: An intraoperative DUS assessment of intermediate residual stenosis or grade C dissections occurring after PTA of long femoro-popliteal arteries allowed for a more accurate definition of technical success than angiography and guided a further PTA optimization in one-third of the cases.