Background-Endovenous recanalization of iliofemoral stenosis or occlusion with angioplasty and stent placement has been increasingly used to maintain long-term venous patency in patients with iliofemoral venous outflow obstruction. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine safety and effectiveness of venous stent placement in patients with iliofemoral venous outflow obstruction. Methods and Results-We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE for studies evaluating safety or effectiveness of stent placement in patients with iliofemoral venous outflow obstruction. Data were extracted by disease pathogenesis: nonthrombotic, acute thrombotic, or chronic post-thrombotic. Main outcomes included technical success, periprocedural complications, symptom relief at final follow-up, and primary/secondary patency through 5 years. A total of 37 studies reporting 45 treatment effects (nonthrombotic, 8; acute thrombotic, 19; and chronic post-thrombotic, 18) from 2869 patients (nonthrombotic, 1122; acute thrombotic, 629; and chronic post-thrombotic, 1118) were included. Technical success rates were comparable among groups, ranging from 94% to 96%. Complication rates ranged from 0.3% to 1.1% among groups for major bleeding, from 0.2% to 0.9% for pulmonary embolism, from 0.1% to 0.7% for periprocedural mortality, and from 1.0% to 6.8% for early thrombosis. Patient symptom relief data were reported inconsistently. At 1 year, primary and secondary patency were 96% and 99% for nonthrombotic, 87% and 89% for acute thrombotic, and 79% and 94% for chronic post-thrombotic.
Conclusions-Stent
Methods
Literature SearchThis study was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses. 9 We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE for randomized or nonrandomized controlled studies and prospective or retrospective case series of stent placement for treatment of iliofemoral venous outflow obstruction by using a combination of relevant keywords. The details of the MEDLINE search strategy are listed in Table I in the Data Supplement. The syntax for EMBASE was similar, but adapted as necessary. In addition, manual searches were conducted using the Directory of Open Access Journals, Google Scholar, and the reference lists of included papers and relevant meta-analyses. No date restrictions were applied to the searches. The final search was conducted March 15, 2015.
Study SelectionTwo researchers independently selected studies for inclusion in the review. Disagreements were resolved by consensus. Titles and abstracts were initially screened to exclude review articles, commentaries, letters, case reports, and obviously irrelevant studies. Full texts of the remaining articles were retrieved and reviewed. Main inclusion criteria included studies with (1) primary diagnosis of obstructive lesions of the common femoral vein, external iliac vein, and the common iliac vein, (2) stent placement in the common femoral vein, external iliac vein, common iliac vein, and the inferior vena cava, (3) outcomes reporte...