Balloon angioplasty and stenting of lower extremity arteries in patients with critical limb ischemia

Abstract

Lower extremity peripheral vascular disease is a typical, rapidly progressive, and disabling condition. In most patients, limb ischemia is detected at late stages of the disease. As a result, they are at high risk of limb loss, which makes a complete conventional treatment ineffective. In this situation, balloon angioplasty and stenting of lower extremity ar- teries are considered the optimal modern method of treating patients with critical limb ischemia. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of endovascular techniques to improve revascularization during the treatment of critical lower extremity ischemia. The research involved a comprehensive examination and endovascular treatment of 170 patients with occlusive-stenotic lesions of the lower extremity arteries. The patients were operated for critical ischemia between January 2016 and December 2022, and the effectiveness of the measures taken was analyzed. It was found that the pathology under the study requires timely diagnosis and identification of the severity of limb ischemia and circulatory disorders, with the subsequent preparation of an appropriate treatment plan. The authors discussed the main problems accompanying balloon angioplasty and stenting of the lower extremity arteries in patients with critical limb ischemia. Also, the experience of developed countries in the optimization and improvement of the studied tech- nique was studied. It has been proven that the diagnosis of lower extremity vascular disease is related to specific difficulties. However, it can be made on an outpatient basis by analyzing medical examination data and simple labor- atory methods. The authors also examined the feasibility and prospects of balloon angioplasty and stenting of the lower extremity arteries in patients with critical limb ischemia. The re-search findings have a practical value for improving the treatment of patients with occlusive and stenotic lesions of the lower extremities, as well as for improving the effec-tiveness of balloon angioplasty and stenting.