Purpose: The hypothesis that covered stents are superior to bare-metal stents (BMS) in long femoropopliteal artery disease was tested. The one-year results of the VIASTAR trial revealed a patency benefit of covered stents in the treatment-per-protocol (TPP) analysis only.
Methods: A prospective, randomized, single-blind, multicenter study evaluated 141 patients with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD) after treatment with heparin-bonded covered stents (VIABAHN(®) Endoprosthesis) or BMS. Clinical outcomes and patency rates were assessed at 1, 6, 12, and 24 months. Mean lesion length was 19.0 ± 6.3 cm in the VIABAHN(®) versus 17.3 ± 6.6 cm in the BMS group.
Results: The 24-month primary patency rates in the VIABAHN(®) and BMS group were: intention-to-treat 63.1 (95 % CI 0.52-0.76) versus 41.2 % (95 % CI 0.29-0.57; log rank p = 0.04) and TPP 69.4 (95 % CI 0.58-0.83) versus 40.0 % (95 % CI 0.28-0.56; log rank p = 0.004). Freedom from target-lesion-revascularization (TLR) was 79.4 (95 % CI 0.70-0.90) versus 73.0 % (95 % CI 0.63-0.85) for VIABAHN(®) versus BMS (log rank p = 0.37). For the TPP group in lesions ≥20 cm, the 24-month patency rates were 65.2 (95 % CI 0.50-0.85) versus 26.7 % (95 % CI 0.12-0.59; log rank p = 0.004) for VIABAHN(®) versus BMS, and freedom from TLR was 80.0 (95 % CI 0.68-0.94) versus 61.9 % (95 % CI 0.44-0.87; log rank p = 0.13). The ankle brachial index was 0.89 ± 0.18 versus 0.91 ± 0.17 (p = 0.76) at 24-month in the VIABAHN(®) versus the BMS group, respectively.
Conclusion: At 24-month, this trial in PAD patients with long femoropopliteal lesions demonstrated a significantly improved primary patency rate for heparin-bonded covered stents compared to BMS, however, without a significant impact on clinical outcomes and TLR rate (Reg. Nr. ISRCTN48164244).