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Purpose: To evaluate the long-term results of remote iliac artery endarterectomy (RIAE) in 2 vascular referral centers and review existing literature. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of 109 consecutive patients (mean age 64.2±10.7 years; 72 men) who underwent 113 RIAE procedures for lower limb ischemia from January 2004 to August 2015 at 2 vascular centers. The majority of limbs (82, 72.6%) had TASC II D lesions (31 TASC II C). Primary outcome measures were primary, assisted primary, and secondary patency. A comprehensive literature search was performed in the PubMed and EMBASE databases to identify all English-language studies published after 1990 reporting the results of RIAE. Results: Technical success was achieved in 95 (84.1%) of the 113 procedures. The complication rate was 13.7%, and 30-day mortality was 0%. At 5 years, primary patency was 78.2%, assisted primary patency was 83.4%, and secondary patency was 86.7%. Hemodynamic success was obtained in 91.7% of patients, and clinical improvement was observed in 95.2%. Freedom from major amputation was 94.7% at 5 years. The systematic review comprised 6 studies including 419 RIAEs, and pooled data showed results similar to the current study. Conclusion: For external iliac artery occlusions extending into the common femoral artery, RIAE appears to be a valuable hybrid treatment option. It combines acceptable morbidity and low mortality with good long-term patency. It has some advantages over an open surgical iliofemoral bypass or complete endovascular revascularization and could be the best treatment option in selected cases.

To report a randomized trial comparing the Legflow paclitaxel-eluting balloon (PEB) + Supera stenting to Supera stenting alone in patients with intermediate to long superficial femoral artery (SFA) lesions.The multicenter RAPID trial ( controlled-trials.com ; identifier ISRCTN47846578) randomized (1:1) 160 patients (mean age 67 years; 102 men) with Rutherford category 2-6 ischemia to treatment with Legflow PEB + Supera stent or Supera stent alone in intermediate to long SFA lesions (mean lesion length 15.8±7.4 vs 15.8±7.6 cm, respectively). The efficacy outcome was primary patency, defined as freedom from restenosis on duplex ultrasound or angiography.Baseline characteristics including the percentage of occlusions were similar between groups. In the intention-to-treat analysis, the estimated primary patency at 1 year was 68.3% (95% CI 56.7% to 79.9%) in the PEB + Supera group vs 62.0% (95% CI 49.1% to 74.9%) in the Supera group (p=0.900). Per-protocol analysis showed a 12-month primary patency estimate of 74.7% (95% CI 63.1% to 86.3%) in the PEB + Supera group vs 62.0% (95% CI 49.1% to 74.9%) in the control group (p=0.273). Secondary patency estimates at 12 months (per-protocol analysis) were 89.0% (95% CI 80.6% to 97.4%) vs 98.0% (95% CI 94.1% to 100%; p=0.484); the estimates for freedom from clinically driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR) were 83.0% (95% CI 72.8% to 93.2%) and 77.8% (95% CI 66.6% to 89.0%; p=0.277), respectively.The short-term results from the multicenter RAPID randomized controlled trial indicate that the Legflow PEB is safe and feasible for the treatment of intermediate to long SFA lesions. In this trial, at least 70% of the patients suffered an occlusion. The PEB group had higher rates of primary patency and freedom from CD-TLR, although there were no statistically significant differences vs controls.