Drug-Eluting Stent Versus Drug-Coated Balloon Revascularization in Patients With Femoropopliteal Arterial Disease

Background: Randomized trials of drug-eluting stents (DES) and drug-coated balloons (DCB) for femoropopliteal interventions reported superior patency rates for both strategies compared to standard balloon angioplasty. To date, head-to-head comparisons are missing.

Objectives: The authors sought to compare DES versus DCB for femoropopliteal lesions through 36 months.

Methods: Within a multicenter, randomized trial, 150 patients with symptomatic femoropopliteal disease were randomly assigned to primary DES implantation or DCB angioplasty with bailout stenting after stratification for lesion length (≤10 cm, >10 cm to ≤20 cm, and >20 cm to ≤30 cm). The primary effectiveness endpoint was primary patency at 12 months assessed by Kaplan-Meier. Secondary endpoints comprised major adverse events including death, major amputations, and clinically driven target lesion revascularization, and clinical outcomes.

Results: More than one-half of lesions were total occlusions, and the stenting rate was 25.3% in the DCB group. Kaplan-Meier estimates of primary patency were 79% and 80% for DES and DCB at 12 months (p = 0.96) but decreased to 54% and 38% through 36 months (p = 0.17), respectively. Freedom from clinically driven target lesion revascularization was >90% at 12 months but dropped to around 70% at 36 months in both groups. Overall, the mortality rate through 36 months was 7.3%, with 1 procedure-related death in the DCB group. Improvement of clinical outcomes was sustained through 36 months.

Conclusions: Patency rates at 12 months suggest comparable effectiveness and safety of DES versus DCB plus bailout stenting in femoropopliteal interventions; a trend in favor of the DES was observed up to 36 months. (Randomized Evaluation of the Zilver PTX Stent vs. Paclitaxel-Eluting Balloons for Treatment of Symptomatic Peripheral Artery Disease of the Femoropopliteal Artery [REAL PTX]; NCT01728441).