Adjunctive drug-coated balloon vs percutaneous transluminal angioplasty after atherectomy in common femoral artery diseases: a comparative study

Purpose
Recent reports examined the efficacy of adjuvant techniques, such as drug-eluting balloon (DEB) inflation and percutaneous plain balloon angioplasty (POBA), in improving the long-term patency rate after atherectomy for common femoral artery (CFA) disease. The authors conducted the present comparative trial to compare the 6-month patency rate of adjuvant DEB inflation vs POBA after atherectomy of CFA disease.
Materials and methods
The authors conducted a retrospective comparative study on 80 patients with CFA disease who presented to the operating theaters of Vascular Surgery Department of Aswan University Hospital during the period from February 2016 to February 2018. Patients were allocated in equal ratio to one of the following groups: group DEB and group POBA.
Results
There were no statistically significant differences between studied groups in terms of procedure characteristics (>0.05). Regarding the primary outcome of the present study, the DEB ad POBA groups had comparable rate of patency at 1 month (92.5 vs 100%, respectively), 6 months (87.5 vs 95%, respectively), and 12 months (72.5 vs 75%, respectively; >0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between studied groups in terms of complications (>0.05).
Conclusion
Both adjuvant DEB and POBA are effective modalities in improving the long-term patency rate in patients undergoing atherectomy for CFA lesions. This study demonstrated that both techniques achieved high success rate, with low incidence of procedure-related complications. Nonetheless, larger studies are still needed to confirm the findings.