Does velocity of dilatation influence the result of dilatation? A postmortem study.

We evaluated the influence of velocity of dilatation on the success of and the vascular damage produced by dilatation. Nonatheroslerotic segments of distal superficial femoral arteries were dilated "fast" (n = 69) or "slow" (n = 45) under standard conditions with balloon catheters. The arterial wall was overstretched between 1% and more than 60%. The success of dilatation rose continuously with increasing overstretching during dilatation. The damage to the arterial wall by dilatation increased discontinuously with increasing overstretching. Dilatation success and damage patterns did not differ in the "slow" and "fast" groups.