Results of common femoral artery thromboendarterectomy evaluation of a traditional surgical management in the endovascular era

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term outcome of common femoral artery thromboendarterectomy in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease. The study retrospectively evaluated 713 vessels in 655 patients (75% male; mean age, 69.4± 9.5years) who underwent common femoral thromboendarterectomy from January 2006 until May 2012 in two high-volume vascular centers. Critical limb ischemia was present in 221 patients, and intermittent claudication was present in 434. Three patent tibial arteries, described as runoff vessels, were available in 33% of the cohort, two were present in 28.3%, one runoff vessel was present in 23.4%, and 15.2% (n= 102) showed no runoff option. Hybrid procedures were used to treat 255 limbs (35.8%). The primary end point was primary patency (PP). Secondary patency (SP), limb salvage, and survival were the secondary end points. Survival rates were 93.9%, 83.0%, 74.1%, and 60.1% at 1, 3, 5, and 7years, respectively. PP was 78.5% and SP was 89.1% at 7years. Patency rates were 97.3% (PP) and 97.8% (SP) at 6months and 90.2% (PP) and 98.3% (SP) at 3years, respectively, with 76 target lesion revascularizations. No significant difference was demonstrated for PP rates stratified for nonhybrid procedures and hybrid procedures (78.1% vs 78.6%; P= .22) and for critical limb ischemia vs intermittent claudication (76.3% vs 79.4%; P= .20) at 7years. The mean± standard deviation ankle-brachial index increased from 0.46± 0.3 preoperatively to 0.81± 0.2 postoperatively and to 0.77± 0.3 at 7years (P< .001). A total of 20 major amputations were performed, achieving a limb salvage rate of 92.6%. Procedure-related complications occurred in 11.5% during 7years of follow-up. Open surgery for common femoral artery stenosis is safe and effective in the long-term. Endovascular therapy will need to compete with these excellent results.