Background: Clinical outcomes of the drug-coated balloon (DCB) procedure in high-risk patients with femoropopliteal (FP) disease have not been investigated sufficiently.
Methods: This retrospective, single-center study analyzed 87 patients (39% dialysis) and 97 affected legs (64% critical limb ischemia [CLI]) that underwent DCB for symptomatic FP disease from March 2013 to September 2014. Risk stratification was based on FeDCLIP (female, diabetes, dialysis, CLI, lesion length >150 mm and poor runoff) score. The DCB outcomes among the different risk groups were compared and factors predicting restenosis were analyzed during follow-up.
Results: Most of study participants (84%) were moderate to high-risk patients. The procedural success rate was 100% and the 30-day major adverse vascular event rate was 2.1%. The mean lesion length was 178 ± 106 mm and the mean follow-up time was 428 ± 145 (range 50-782) days. The binary restenosis-free and clinically driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR)-free rates at 12 months were 77.5% and 84.3%, respectively, for all participants. No significant differences were observed in 1-year binary restenosis and CD-TLR rates in the low-, moderate-, and high-risk groups (60%, 84%, and 73%: p = 0.396; 78%, 89%, and 80%: p = 0.635, respectively). In multivariate analysis, lesion length >150 mm (Hazard ratio [HR]: 8.00, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.12 to 55.6, p = 0.038) and Rutherford class 6 (HR: 7.09, 95% CI, 1.15 to 43.5, p = 0.034) were identified as independent predictors of binary restenosis.
Conclusions: Despite general comorbidities and advanced limb ischemia, 1-year outcomes of DCB in high-risk patients with FP disease were effective. The DCB procedure holds promise to improve vessel patency; however, lesion length >150 mm and major tissue loss were independent predictors for binary restenosis after the treatment.