Radiation therapy significantly reduced the reclogging of blocked leg arteries, according to a study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
In this first double-blind randomized trial testing of radiation therapy to prevent the reblockage of an artery, called restenosis, patients who received radiation therapy in addition to angioplasty had a 47 percent lower rate of reblockage six months later than patients who underwent angioplasty alone.
Fatty deposits in the arteries leading to the legs and feet increase the risk of blood clots, which can block leg arteries. Treatment is difficult because recurrence rates are high after angioplasty, in which a balloon-tipped catheter is threaded through the affected artery and inflated to widen the arterial opening. Radiation inhibits overgrowth of smooth muscle cells, which contribute to the blockage.
In the study conducted in the General Hospital in Vienna, 63 men and 50 women were assigned randomly after successful angioplasty to either receive an application of radiation known as brachytherapy or no further treatment.
In brachytherapy, a wire with a radioactive tip is threaded to the site and remains there for up to five minutes to deliver a one-time dose of radiation.
A year later, the arteries remained open in about 64 percent of the patients who received the radiation, compared to 35 percent of those who did not. And in the radiation group, none of the 15 patients whose condition deteriorated experienced full blockage.
The procedure is painless and there was no difference in quality of life for those who had it and those who did not.
Researchers said that short-term results are promising, but more studies are needed.