Transfemoral Stenting

The femoral artery is the most common access route for cerebral angiography and neurointerventional procedures. Complications of the transfemoral approach include groin hemorrhages and hematomas, retroperitoneal hematomas, pseudoaneurysms, arteriovenous fistulas, peripheral artery occlusions, femoral nerve injury, and access-site infections. Incidence rates vary among different randomized and nonrandomized trials, and the literature lacks a comprehensive review of this subject.

Oneissi et al. gather data from 16 randomized clinical trials (RCT) and 17 nonrandomized cohort studies regarding femoral access-site complications for a review paper. They also briefly discussed management strategies for these complications based on the most recent literature.

A PubMed indexed search for all neuroendovascular clinical trials, retrospective studies, and prospective studies that reported femoral artery access-site complications in neurointerventional procedures.

The overall access-site complication rate in RCTs is 5.13%, while in non-RCTs, the rate is 2.78%. The most common complication in both groups is groin hematoma followed by access-site hemorrhage and femoral artery pseudoaneurysm. On the other hand, wound infection was the least common complication.

The transfemoral approach in neuroendovascular procedures holds risk for several complications. This review will allow further studies to compare access-site complications between the transfemoral approach and other alternative access sites, mainly the trans-radial artery approach, which is gaining a lot of interest nowadays ¹⁾.

Transfemoral stenting of common carotid artery stenosis origin is technically difficult because of poor stability of the guiding catheter.

Four patients (5 stenotic lesions) with stenosis of the common carotid artery (CCA) origin underwent transfemoral stenting with a balloon protection device (PercuSurge GuardWire; Medtronic, Santa Rosa, California). These 5 stenotic lesions of the CCA origin included 1 on the right side and 4 on the left side. Two of the stenoses were symptomatic, and 3 were asymptomatic. A balloon-expandable stent (Express LD stent; Boston Scientific, Natick, Massachusetts) was used in all patients.

All stenoses were successfully dilated. With the balloon protection device as an anchor in all patients, the guiding catheter was highly stable during the procedure. There were no intraprocedural or periprocedural ischemic complications in any patients. None of the patients developed a stroke during a mean follow-up period of 8.4 months.

The anchoring technique using a balloon protection device is useful for transfemoral stenting of stenoses at the CCA origin ²⁾.