The Safety and Efficacy of Intravascular Lithotripsy in Treating Calcified Peripheral Arterial Disease

Calcified peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a common health condition associated with increased morbidity and mortality.Endovascular procedures have become more common in treating these lesions, and plain balloon angioplasty (PBA) is often used for vessels with mild-to-moderate calcification.However, decreased vascular compliance in heavily calcified vessels leads to poorer outcomes and higher complication risk.Intravascular shockwave lithotripsy is a more novel endovascular management option.It uses a specially designed balloon catheter to create shockwaves in an attempt to modify and increase compliance of the calcified plaque.This review aims to assess the safety profile and efficacy of intravascular lithotripsy (IVL).The currently available literature shows that use of IVL for calcified PAD has a good safety profile and low complication rate.Intravascular lithotripsy has also been shown to be more effective in treating patients with calcified PAD as compared to PBA alone.Whilst short-term and mid-term results are promising, there is a scarcity of published long-term data.Hence, further long-term data is required before a definitive conclusion can be drawn.