“Cryoplasty is comparable to conventional balloon angioplasty in the femoropopliteal artery of the diabetic patients, and the technique is also associated with significantly more clinically driven repeat procedures”, said S Spiliopoulos, Patras, Greece.
He was presenting the results of a study titled “Cryoplasty versus conventional balloon angioplasty of the femoropopliteal artery in diabetic patients: long term results from a prospective randomised, controlled study” at CIRSE 2009, Lisbon, Portugal.
With regard to the results of the study, Spiliopoulos said, “the technical success rate between the two procedures was similar – 58% in the group randomised to PolarCath Cryoplasty (24 patients with 31 lesions, group A) vs. 64% in the group treated by conventional balloon angioplasty (26 patients, 34 lesions, group B) of the femoropopliteal artery.
There were no significant differences between the two groups with regard to overall mortality (12.5% for group A vs. 11.5% for group B, respectively) and limb salvage( 3.4% vs. 6.5% respectively)
While 24-month angiographic primary patency was not significantly different between the two groups (59% in group A vs. 55% in group B). On the other hand, significantly more re-interventions because of recurrent symptoms were required in the cryoplasty group up to 24 months (66% vs. 40% in the balloon angioplasty group; p<0.05 log-rank test), said Spiliopoulos.
Based on these results, he concluded that conventional cryoplasty was merely comparable to conventional balloon angioplasty, was associated with significantly more repeat procedures in diabetic patients.
