A Clinical Role for a Paclitaxel-Coated Balloon in Peripheral Artery Disease?

Patency at 1 year seems encouraging, but we await proof of long-term benefit.

Among patients treated with standard percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) for symptomatic femoropopliteal peripheral artery disease (PAD), lumen loss within 1 year occurs in more than 60% of patients. It remains unknown whether antiproliferative agents delivered directly to the artery by angioplasty balloons would improve long-term vessel patency and clinical outcomes. In a single-blind, multicenter, manufacturer-funded trial, researchers randomized 476 patients with symptomatic PAD in a 2:1 ratio to PTA with a paclitaxel-coated balloon or with a standard balloon.

At 12 months, the rate of primary patency (freedom from restenosis or target-lesion revascularization) in the drug-coated balloon group was higher than in the conventional a…

Reviewing Author

Beat J. Meyer, MD

Disclosures

Leadership positions in professional societiesBern Heart Foundation (President); International Academy of Medicine, Bern, Switzerland (Director)

Beat J. Meyer, MD

Disclosures

Leadership positions in professional societiesBern Heart Foundation (President); International Academy of Medicine, Bern, Switzerland (Director)

A Clinical Role for a Paclitaxel-Coated Balloon in Peripheral Artery Disease?

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Reviewing Author