Non-invasive assessment of arterial stenoses in angioplasty surveillance: A comparison with angiography

Objectives:Comparison of non-invasive arterial measurements with angiography and their use for angioplasty surveillance.Design:Prospective assessments of arterial stenoses in patients undergoing angioplasty in a 9 month surveillance period.Materials:Fifty consecutive patients undergoing angioplasty.Methods:(i) One hundred and thirty-one sets of clinical assessments, ankle brachial Doppler pressure indices and colour Duplex velocities and diameters were compared to time-matched angiographic diameter stenosis. (ii) Fifty patients undergoing femoropopliteal angioplasty (32 stenoses and 18 occlusions) were studied with ankle branchial Doppler pressure indices and colour Duplex and angiography during a 9 month surveillance period.Results:(i) Symptoms, pulses, resting ABPI, and exercise ABPI showed no useful correlation with angiography. Duplex velocity ratio and Duplex diameters showed correlation and agreement with angiography respectively. (ii) On surveillance, restenosis was universal but not always clinically significant. Angioplasty caused a rapid improvement in ABPI and imaging studies which worsened at later times. ABPI did not predict clinical failure however, Duplex and angiography predicted all clinical failures.Conclusions:Restenosis should be assessed with imaging of the angioplasty site during angioplasty surveillance