The Current Status of Lithoplasty in Vascular Calcifications: A Systematic Review

Analysis of interventional treatment options of the common femoral artery - a retrospective single center experience

Background: Due to the rapid development of treatment techniques of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) treatment is nowadays predominantly interventional. An exception are lesions of the common femoral artery (CFA), which should be treated surgically according to vascular guidelines. However, recent evidence has shown that endovascular techniques, e.g. stenting, have comparable clinical outcomes while causing fewer complications. The aim of the present analysis was to evaluate the therapeutic success of endovascular therapy of CFA lesions in a single center, all - comers registry. Patients and methods: All patients who were treated for a CFA lesion at the Department of Internal Medicine I of the University Hospital Jena in the period from 01/2017 to 12/2020 were included. Treatment success was determined by evaluating the ankle-brachial-index (ABI) pre- and post-interventional as well as after follow-up (FU), measuring walking distance (WD) and by target revascularization rate (TLR) and primary patency rate (PPR). Results: The analysis included 109 patients with a mean age of 73.4 years, with 67% (73) of those being men. 72 patients received interventional treatment, whereas 33 were treated surgically and 4 conservatively. Resting ABI in the overall cohort showed an increase from 0.5 to 0.7 post intervention (p=<0.05; mean FU-time: 6.5 months). In the interventional cohort ABI increases from 0.6 to 0.8 (p=<0.05; mean FU-time: 5,8 months) at FU and from 0.3 to 0.6 (p=<0.05; mean FU-time: 8,8 month) in the surgically treated group. The WD improved in the whole collective from 116.5 meter (m) to 152.5 m (p=<0.05). The TLR showed no significant difference with 8.1% after interventional treatment and 6.1% after vascular surgery in the present analysis (p=0.72) as well as PPR with 89.8% after EVT and 90.9% after surgical approach (p=0.87). The intra-/postinterventional complication rate was 5.5% in the intervention group, compared to postoperative complication rate of 15.2% in the surgically treated group. Conclusions: The present analysis demonstrates that even in a real-world, all-comers collective, interventional therapy for CFA lesions was safe and equally effective as the surgically treated patient cohort. Continuing to generate registry data is important to eventually initiate a paradigm shift.

Outcomes of lower extremity peripheral arterial interventions in patients with and without chronic kidney disease or end-stage renal disease

INTRODUCTION

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a progressive vascular condition characterized by the narrowing or blockage of arteries, primarily attributed to atherosclerosis. PAD's prevalence in the general population is estimated at approximately 5.9%. Notably however, among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), PAD's prevalence is substantially higher, ranging from 17% to 48%. This review paper emphasizes the pervasiveness of PAD and its intricate relationship with CKD and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). It demonstrates the importance of early detection, proactive screening, and understanding the formidable challenges associated with treating heavily calcified lesions.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

Comprehensive literature searches encompassed the PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases, in order to identify studies involving lower extremity peripheral arterial interventions in patients both with and without CKD or ESRD. The search spanned the timeframe from January 2001 to July 2023. The search strategy included vocabulary terms concerning peripheral artery disease, lower extremities, revascularization, chronic kidney disease, and end-stage renal disease.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

Initial searches were used to identify articles based on title. Exclusion criteria was then applied, and any redundant articles were removed. The articles abstracts were then reviewed, and relevant articles were selected. Once selected the articles were thoroughly reviewed including the references to find other relevant articles that were missed during the initial search process. In total 28 articles were selected and included for review of clinical data in regard to PAD outcomes in patients with advanced kidney disease.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight the need for personalized approaches in diagnosing and treating PAD in CKD and ESRD patients. Interdisciplinary collaboration, such as those between nephrologists, vascular surgeons, and interventional radiologists, is vital to optimize outcomes. Further research should focus on innovative, tailored interventions to enhance limb preservation, reduce mortality, prolong patency, and cut healthcare costs.

Predictors for Distal Revascularization Following Femoral Endarterectomy in Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia Patients

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to identify the clinical variables which are predictive for the benefit of concomitant distal revascularization (DR) to prevent Chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) progression and the need for major limb amputation.

METHODS

This is a retrospective cohort study of patients who presented with lower limb ischemia and required at least femoral endarterectomy (FEA), recruited over a period of 15 years (2002-2016). The patient cohort was divided into three groups based on the type of intervention: A (FEA alone), B (FEA + catheter-based intervention/(CBI)), and C (FEA + surgical bypass (SB)). The primary endpoint was to identify independent predictors for the use of concomitant DR (CBI or SB). Secondary endpoints were amputation rate, length of stay, mortality rate, postoperative ankle-brachial index and complications, readmission rate, re-intervention rate, resolution of symptoms and wound status.

RESULTS

A total of 400 patients were included, 68.0% were males. Most presenting limbs were at Rutherford class (RC) III and WIfI stage 2, with an ankle-brachial index (ABI) of .47 ± .21 and a TASC II class C lesion. No significant differences were found in the primary-assisted and secondary patency rates between the three groups (P > .05, in all). In the multivariate analyses, clinical variables associated with DR were hyperlipidemia (hazard ratio (HR) 2.1-2.2), TASC II D (HR 2.62), Rutherford class 4 (HR 2.3) and 5 (HR 3.7), as well as WIfI stage ≥3 (HR 1.48).

CONCLUSIONS

Femoral endarterectomy is sufficient to treat intermittent claudication. However, patients in whom rest pain, tissue loss or TASC II D anatomic lesion severity are present may benefit from concomitant distal revascularization. Taking into consideration the overall assessment of operative risk factors for each individual patient, proceduralists should have a lower threshold for performing early or concomitant distal revascularization to reduce CLTI progression including additional tissue loss and/or major limb amputation.

Percutaneous coronary intervention in calcified stenoses: a protocol for a systematic review with meta-analysis, trial sequential analysis and network meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

Severely calcified coronary stenoses are difficult to treat with percutaneous coronary interventions. The presence of severe calcifications complicates lesion preparation, advancement of stents and achievement of full stent expansion. Intervention in these lesions is associated with an increased risk of complications and procedural failure compared with treatment of less calcified lesions. Due to the high burden of comorbidity, patients with severely calcified lesions are often excluded from interventional trials, and there is little evidence on how to treat these patients.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

We will conduct a systematic review of randomised trials enrolling patients with calcified coronary artery disease undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. We will investigate any percutaneous treatment option including any lesion preparation, stenting or postdilatation technique. We will search The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature, Science Citation Index Expanded, and Excerpta Medica database for studies from inception to 31 October 2022. The coprimary outcome is all-cause mortality and serious adverse events. If appropriate, we will conduct meta-analysis, trial sequential analysis and network meta-analysis.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

No ethics approval is required for this study. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal in this field.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42021226034.

Interventional Treatment of Access Site Complications During Transfemoral TAVI: A Single Center Experience

Introduction: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has rapidly developed over the last decade and is nowadays the treatment of choice in the elderly patients irrespective of surgical risk. The outcome of these patients is mainly determined not only by the interventional procedure itself, but also by its complications. Material and Methods: We analyzed the outcome and procedural events of transfemoral TAVI procedures performed per year at our institution. The mean age of these patients is 79.2 years and 49% are female. All the patients underwent duplex ultrasonography of the iliac arteries and inguinal vessels before the procedure and CT of the aorta and iliac arteries. Results: Transfemoral access route is associated with a number of challenges and complications, especially in the patients suffering from peripheral artery disease (PAD). The rate of vascular complications at our center was 2.76% (19/689). Typical vascular complications (VC) include bleeding and pseudoaneurysms at the puncture site, acute or subacute occlusion of the access vessel, and dissection or perforation of the iliac vessels. In addition, there is the need for primary PTA of the access pathway in the presence of additional PAD of the common femoral artery (CFA) and iliac vessels. Balloon angioplasty, implantation of covered and uncovered stents, lithoplasty, and ultrasound-guided thrombin injection are available to treat the described issues. Conclusion: Interventional therapy of access vessels can preoperatively enable the transfemoral approach and successfully treat post-operative VC in most of the cases. Training the heart team to address these issues is a key focus, and an interventional vascular specialist should be part of this team.

Coronary intravascular lithotripsy for coronary artery calcifications- systematic review of cases

Background: Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is a pathological deposition of calcium in the intimal and medial layer of the arterial wall. A plethora of therapeutic calcium debulking techniques is available for the treatment of CAC, including orbital or rotational atherectomy, excimer lasers, cutting, and scoring balloons, which are associated with a soaring rate of complication and low efficacy. To this end, in 2016, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posited that shockwave intravascular lithotripsy (S-IVL) technique can be employed with minimal complication.

Methods: A retrospective review of cases received lithotripsy for calcified coronary artery disease was performed by using online data from PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. The available search results were downloaded into an Endnote library and analyzed into two phases.

Results: Out of 24 participants from case reports and series, Majority were found to be Male. There was no significant difference found in the mortality of patients undergoing IVL for the stenosis of the left main stem, left anterior descending, left circumflex artery, or diagonal branch. The mortality was found to be high among 6 patients with prior comorbidities and underwent more than 3 cycles of IVL (OR 37,95% Cl 1.54–886.04, P 0.02). Out of 24 patients, 2 (8.33%) patients developed complications such as vessel dissection (OR 3.4, 95% Cl 17.87–64.68, P 0.4).

Conclusion: Shockwave intravascular lithotripsy (S-IVL) may be used in cases of the calcified disease to gain vessel lumen in order to deploy drug-eluting stents with PCI. The success of the DES implantation of IVL can be 100% with a minimal complication rate.

Safety and effectiveness of coronary intravascular lithotripsy in eccentric calcified coronary lesions: a patient-level pooled analysis from the Disrupt CAD I and CAD II Studies

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to assess the safety and effectiveness of intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) in treating eccentric calcified coronary lesions.

METHODS

Between December 2015 and March 2019, 180 patients were enrolled in the Disrupt CAD I and CAD II studies across 19 sites in 10 countries. Patient-level data were pooled from these two studies (n = 180), within which 47 eccentric lesions (26%) and 133 concentric lesions were identified.

RESULTS

Clinical success, defined as residual stenosis < 50% after stenting and no in-hospital MACE, was similar between the eccentric and concentric cohorts (93.6% vs. 93.2%, p = 1.0). There were no perforations, abrupt closure, slow flow or no reflow events observed in either group, and there were low rates of flow-limiting dissections (Grade D-F: 0% eccentric, 1.7% concentric; p = 0.54). Final acute gain and percent residual stenosis were similar between the two groups. Final residual stenosis of 8.6 ± 9.8% in eccentric and 10.0 ± 9.0% (p = 0.56) in concentric stenosis confirms the significant effect of IVL in calcified coronary lesions.

CONCLUSION

In this first report from a pooled patient-level analysis of coronary IVL from the Disrupt CAD I and CAD II studies, IVL use was associated with consistent improvement in procedural and clinical outcomes in both eccentric and concentric calcified lesions.