Endovascular therapies for vascular disease

Endovascular techniques including angioplasty, stenting, and endoluminal stent grafts represent important therapeutic options for the treatment of vascular disease. Technologic advances have allowed for the treatment of aneurysmal disease as well as extra-cranial carotid disease that previously required surgical methods. The success of various endovascular therapies varies based on anatomic location and extent of disease. The clinical results in different arterial segments are increasingly recognized in the published literature. The aortoiliac arterial bed appears to respond most favorably, with less favorable results observed in the infra-inguinal and infrapopliteal locations. There is increasing evidence that stent-supported carotid angioplasty using cerebral protection will play an important future role in the treatment of carotid artery stenosis. Less invasive techniques to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms with endoluminal stent grafts have dramatically changed the available therapeutic options. Improved devices and delivery systems will likely increase the number of patients who can be successfully treated in this manner. The evolution of endovascular therapies will continue to change the way we treat vascular disease.