FRIDAY, July 21 (HealthDay News) -- Vigorous exercise may cause stent fracture among patients with peripheral arterial disease treated with nitinol stent in their superficial femoral artery, according to a study in the July 15 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.
Osamu Iida, M.D., of Kansai Rosai Hospital in Hyogo, Japan, and colleagues followed 40 consecutive patients with peripheral arterial disease who underwent rescue stenting with a nitinol stent in the superficial femoral artery. The patients were enrolled between May 2004 and January 2005. Follow-up angiography was performed about 14 months later to detect stent fracture.
Stent fracture occurred in 28 percent of patients. A lesion length of greater than 100 mm, the number of stents used, the lesion involving the distal superficial femoral artery, chronic total occlusion and walking more than 5,000 steps per day were more frequently observed in patients with stent fracture than in those without fracture, the report indicates. Walking more than 5,000 steps per day was the strongest independent determinant associated with stent fracture.
"Mechanical factors such as vigorous exercise likely influence other types of stents, which should be taken into account when developing new types of stents to be used in the superficial femoral artery," the study authors suggest.
Luminexx, Bard of Murray Hill, N.J. manufactured the nitinol stent used in the new study.
Abstract
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
