Angioplasty of Flow‐Limiting Stenosis Reduces Aortic and Brachial Blood Pressure in Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease

BACKGROUND: Arterial hypertension affects cardiovascular outcome in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). We hypothesized that angioplasty of peripheral arterial stenoses decreases aortic (aBP) and brachial blood pressure (bBP). METHODS AND RESULTS: In an index cohort (n=30), we simultaneously measured aBP, bBP, augmentation index (AIx), and aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) before and after angioplasty of the iliac and femoropopliteal arteries; diagnostic angiography served as a control. In an all‐comer registry cohort (n=381), we prospectively measured bBP in patients scheduled for angioplasty of the iliac, femoral, and crural arteries or diagnostic angiography. Systolic aBP decreased after iliac (Δ−25 mmHg; 95% CI, −30 to −20; P<0.0001) and femoropopliteal angioplasty (Δ−12 mmHg; 95% CI, −17 to −5; P<0.0001) as compared with diagnostic angiography. Diastolic aBP decreased after iliac (Δ−9 mmHg; 95% CI, −13 to −1; P=0.01) but not femoropopliteal angioplasty. In parallel, AIx significantly dropped, whereas PWV remained stable. In the registry cohort, systolic bBP decreased after angioplasty of the iliac (Δ−17 mmHg; 95% CI, −31 to −8; P=0.0005) and femoropopliteal arteries (Δ−10 mmHg; 95% CI, −23 to −1; P=0.04) but not the crural arteries, as compared with diagnostic angiography. Diastolic bBP decreased after iliac (Δ−10 mmHg; 95% CI, −17 to −2; P=0.01) and femoropopliteal angioplasty (Δ−9 mmHg; 95% CI, −15 to −1; P=0.04). Multivariate analysis identified baseline systolic bBP and site of lesion as determinants of systolic bBP drop after endovascular treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Angioplasty of flow‐limiting stenoses in patients with peripheral artery disease lowers aortic and brachial blood pressure with more pronounced effects at more proximal lesion sites and elevated baseline systolic blood pressure. These data indicate a role of endovascular treatment to acutely optimize blood pressure in patients with peripheral artery disease. REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT02728479.