Morphologic Alterations After Percutaneous Transluminal Recanalization of Chronic Femoral Atherosclerosis

Abstract

The method of nonsurgical percutaneous X-ray controlled angioplasty with a special catheter technique for recanalizing chronic arterial stenosis and occlusions was first reported by Dotter and Judkins (1). The teams of Dotter and Zeitler, which have the most experience in applying this method, also described the alterations in arteries thus treated. Dotter et al. (2) have described only the dilatation of the inner diameter achieved by compressing the inelastic intima layers and moving them against one another, not the artery itself. Höhn et al. (3) have described an excentric dissecting effect of the catheters. The object of our investigations was the microscopic analysis of the arterial wall and the content of the vessel after transluminal treatment.