Whereas angioplasty of the coronary arteries is widely successful, its use in clogged leg arteries has not reached the same degree of acceptance or success. That's because the restenosis rate (or the reclogging of the artery) in the legs has been high - commonly 50% and as high as 80%.

Now a follow-up treatment recently reported in the AHA journal Circulation shows promise for bringing long-term success to the treatment of clogged leg arteries.

Following traditional angioplasty, patients in the study had a single radiation treatment. A wire with a radioactive tip was threaded to the site of the previous blockage and remained in place for 3 to 5 minutes, delivering a one-time dose of radiation. The patients felt nothing and had no side effects.

One year later, the arteries remained open in about 64% of the people who had the radiation treatment, compared to 35% of those who did not. And, of those who did experience some re-clogging, none of the group who received radiation had full blockage, while 4 of the 29 patients in the other group experienced complete blockage.

Sources:

• Minar E, Pokrajac B, Maca T et al. Endovascular brachytherapy for prophylaxis of restenosis after femoropopliteal angioplasty. Circulation, 2000;102:2694. (Abs.)
• Teirstein, PS. Fulfilling the promise of percutaneous angioplasty. Circulation, 2000;102:2674. (Abs.)