Superficial Femoral Artery Intervention: Creating an Algorithmic Approach for the Use of Old and Novel (Endovascular) Technologies.

Abstract

Femoropopliteal (FP) disease is a common presentation of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), and a challenging anatomic region for durable treatment. Surgical bypass has historically been the primary therapeutic modality, but has been supplanted in the last decade by endovascular therapy, even with the most complex presentation of disease. Endovascular therapy has the advantage of a more favorable and rapid recovery, while preserving future treatment options. Endovascular management of FP disease, initially with "Plain Old" balloon angioplasty (POBA) has yielded over the years to bare metal stents (BMS), and more recently, to technologies seeking to limit BMS use due to difficult-to-treat patterns of in-stent restenosis (ISR). Despite a myriad number of endovascular devices and strategies, the approach to FP intervention lends itself to an algorithmic schema largely predicated on lesion length, severity of calcification, recanalization method, and clinical goals based upon individual patient status. In addition, treatment costs are a growing consideration in device selection. These criteria can be summarized into what we have termed as a "CADENCE" approach to treatment, an acronym representing the following factors: Clinical scenario, Anatomy, Device performance specifications, Experience/Ease, Novelty, Cost, and Evidence-base (Fig. 1). While the individual components of the CADENCE strategy are not always hierarchical, they combine to give a framework for reasonable interventional strategies for a given patient presentation and lesion appearance. Since there is a notable lack of prospective data for FP interventions, most notably with regard to direct device comparisons, actual practice is often experiential, and further data to guide optimal patient care are needed.