Angioscopic Ulcerated Plaques in the Femoropopliteal Artery Associated with Impaired Infrapopliteal Runoff.

Purpose: To determine the correlation between upstream atherosclerosis in the femoropopliteal arteries, assessed using angioscopy, and impaired infrapopliteal runoff.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-one patients with peripheral arterial disease who underwent endovascular therapy and angioscopy were prospectively included. Yellow plaque color scores were semiquantitatively determined as 0, 1, 2, or 3. Irregular plaques with rough surfaces, similar to gastric ulcers, were defined as ulcerated plaques (UPs). Angioscopic data were correlated with angiographic runoff scores (ARS).

Results: UPs were detected in 74.2% of enrolled diseased legs using angioscopy. Mural thrombi were more commonly observed in the femoropopliteal artery in patients with UPs than in those without UPs (91.3% vs 37.5%, respectively; P = .006) and were frequently found on the UPs (21/23 patients with UPs). Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses revealed that the presence of UPs was positively and independently associated with a poor ARS and that oral anticoagulant use was independently associated with a preferable ARS (standardized β = 0.462, P = .004 and standardized β = -0.411, P = .009, respectively, in the multivariate analysis).

Conclusions: UPs, associated with mural thrombi and diagnosed by angioscopic examination, were demonstrated to be one of the factors associated with poor infrapopliteal runoff.