Primary Patency Rate of Superficial Femoral Artery Angioplasty in Patients with Stenosis/Occlusion of Femoropopliteal Artery

Background: The primary patency rate (PPR) is still controversial in angioplasty and heart bypass surgery for blood vessel repair and reconstruction in patients with femoropopliteal disease. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the prolonged PPR rate in patients with stenosis/occlusion of the femoropopliteal artery undergoing superficial femoral artery (SFA) and popliteal angioplasty. Methods: A case series study population consisted of patients demonstrating femoropopliteal artery occlusion referred to Sina Hospital, Tehran, Iran for angiography during 2016-2018. After angiography, patients underwent either stent placement or balloon angioplasty in the case of stenosis/occlusion of femoropopliteal arteries. After angioplasty, patients were followed up in the 3rd, 12th, and 24th months for re-examination, and color Doppler ultrasonography of femoropopliteal arteries was also performed to measure the patency rate. The SPSS Statistics version 21.0 was used to analyze the data. The Kaplan–Meier method and a log-rank test were utilized to evaluate this rate. Results: Sixty patients were included in the study, from which 44 were women (73.3%) and 16 were men (26.6%) with a mean age of 69.9 years. Fifty-two, 41, and 29 patients were examined at intervals of 3, 12, 24 months, with PPRs of 86%, 79%, and 68%, respectively. There was a significant relationship between claudication degree and procedure success (P = 0.02). Conclusion: The prolonged PPR rate of patients after femoropopliteal artery angioplasty was acceptable and was a safe and effective treatment. For future studies, an increase in the number of study variables, a more comprehensive classification, and PPR-related variables are suggested.