Evaluation of Mortality Following Paclitaxel Drug-Coated Balloon Angioplasty of Femoropopliteal Lesions in the Real World

OBJECTIVES This study sought to evaluate the long-term mortality after paclitaxel drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty and plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA) of femoropopliteal lesions in real-world practice. BACKGROUND A recent meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials suggested an increased long-term mortality risk following femoropopliteal angioplasty using paclitaxel-coated devices. METHODS A retrospective mortality analysis of patients with at least 3-year follow-up who underwent balloon based endovascular therapy of femoropopliteal lesions was performed. RESULTS Overall, 7357 patients with femoropopliteal lesions were treated within the study period receiving either DCB angioplasty or POBA. Of those, 1,579 fulfilled the study criteria. A total of 514 patients were treated with POBA without crossover to a paclitaxel-coated device during follow-up and 1,065 patients were treated with DCB angioplasty. Mortality incidence at mean follow-up of 52.0 +/- 20.5 months (median 51 months) was 27.8% after POBA and 16.9% after DCB angioplasty (p < 0.001). Equally, for a cohort excluding patients over 80 years of age, the mortality rate after POBA treatment was significantly higher (23.6% vs. 12.3%; p < 0.001). For the entire cohort, independent predictors for mortality were age (p < 0.001), type of treatment (p = 0.009), hyperlipidemia (p = 0.010), diabetes mellitus (p = 0.010), renal insufficiency (p = 0.007), stroke (p = 0.017), and Rutherford-Becker class 4 (p < 0.001). DCB length was not correlated to mortality rate. After propensity score matching, independent mortality predictors were POBA treatment (p = 0.035), age (p < 0.001), stroke (p = 0.025), and renal insufficiency (p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS In this real-world retrospective analysis, the tong-term mortality rate was lower after DCB angioplasty than after POBA of femoropopliteal lesions. Known comorbidities, risk factors, and disease severity were identified as mortality predictors but not paclitaxel. (C) 2020 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation.