Noninvasive evaluation before and after percutaneous therapy of iliac artery stenoses: The value of the Bernoulli-predicted pressure gradient

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the value of the Bernoulli-predicted pressure gradient in the noninvasive evaluation of patients undergoing iliac percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) or stent placement with the use of intra-arterial pressure measurements as the standard of reference. Methods: Stent placement or PTA was performed in 261 patients with intermittent claudication caused by iliac artery stenoses (333 procedures). Intra-arterial translesional pressure gradients were recorded before and after each procedure. Hemodynamic success was defined as a postprocedural mean pressure gradient less than or equal to 10 mm Hg at rest and during vasodilatation. Before and after intervention, the following noninvasire parameters were determined: the Bernoulli-predicted pressure gradient, the peak systolic velocity ratio, and the ankle-brachial pressure index. Results: Before treatment, both the intra-arterial-measured pressure gradients and the Bernoulli-predicted gradients indicated hemodynamic significance of the iliac artery stenoses. After treatment, both methods indicated significant improvement of the translesional pressure gradient (P