Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of the external carotid artery: preliminary report.

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) using a coax ial catheter system was reported by Dotter and Judkins [1] in 1964. Ten years later in 1974, Gruntzig and Hopff [2] reported the development and successful clinical use of a doublelumen balloon catheter. The smaller diameter and flexibi lity of the catheter made possible more selective vessel dilatations. The balloon is of low compliance and thus can be inflated to a predetermined diameter and pressure, markedly diminishing the risk of balloon and vessel overdistension. PTA has rapidly evolved as an alternative to surgical therapy for stenotic vascular lesions. Recent reports have described the successful and extensive use of thi s balloon technique in the treatment of stenotic lesions of the iliac, femoral, popliteal, renal, abdominal, and coronary arteries of both atherosclerotic and nonatherosc leroti c etiology [3-8]. Only a few reports describe the use of the technique on brachiocephalic vessels , such as on subclavian , carotid , and vertebral arteri es [9 -12 , 13]. Thi s paper describes PTA of the external carotid artery in which atherosc lerotic stenoses complicated planning for superfic ial temporal-middle cerebral artery bypass procedures for internal carotid occlusion.