LAUSR

BACKGROUND Treatment of severe critical limb ischemia (CLI) due to Superficial Femoral Artery (SFA) and below-the-knee (BTK) vessels' involvement could be compromised by the lack of a Great Saphenous Vein (GSV) suitable in its entire length. The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of a hybrid endovascular and open lower limbs arterial reconstruction in these patients with multilevel, advanced CLI. METHODS From 2005 to 2019, we performed hybrid endovascular and surgical treatment for limb salvage in SFA-BTK CLI. This consisted of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) with or without stenting of the SFA, along with distal origin vein graft bypass. Inclusion criteria were: Rutherford category 5 or 6, lack of a suitable GSV, patency of the popliteal artery, steno-obstructive lesions of the SFA, lesions of the three crural vessels > 5 cm in length each. The follow-up was performed with duplex scan surveillance of both the bypass graft and PTA sites. RESULTS The hybrid treatment could be performed in 34 patients. 56% of the SFA steno-obstructive lesions were treated with simple PTA, except for the application of a bare metal stent in one patient (3%), while in all the SFA occlusions PTA was completed with covered stents (41%). Thirty-four popliteal-to-distal vein bypass grafts bypass grafts have been performed. There were no perioperative PTA or bypass graft failures. Clinical improvement was achieved in 26 (76%) patients. Overall, primary and secondary patency, limb salvage, and survival rates were 65%, 68%, 75%, and 75% at 5 yrs, respectively. CONCLUSIONS A hybrid strategy in multilevel SFA-BTK CLI is a well established approach. Additional studies are warranted to validate these results.