A systematic review and meta-analysis of sirolimus-eluting stents for treatment of below-the-knee arterial disease

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to analyze the efficacy and safety of sirolimus-eluting stents (SESs) in the treatment of below-the-knee (BTK) arterial disease.An electronic literature search was conducted from inception to July 24, 2021. Retrospective, prospective, and randomized studies that had used SESs to treat BTK arterial disease and had reported the primary patency, technical success, target lesion revascularization, and/or mortality were included. Meta-analyses of the proportions were conducted to derive pooled summary statistics of the outcomes. Where Kaplan-Meier curves were provided for primary patency, a meta-analysis of the individual patient data was conducted via a graphic reconstruction tool to estimate primary patency at various follow-up points. For studies comparing SESs and bare metal stents (BMSs), a two-stage meta-analysis was performed to compare the 6-month primary patency of SESs vs BMSs.Ten studies across 13 publications, including 995 patients, were retrieved for analysis. In the meta-analysis of proportions, across six studies (n = 339 patients), the pooled 6-month primary patency was 87.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 81.6%-92.1%). Across seven studies (n = 283 patients), the pooled 6-month mortality was 5.4% (95% CI, 1.4%-11.2%). An individual patient data analysis of three studies (n = 282 patients) yielded a primary patency rate of 95.2% (95% CI, 92.7%-97.8%), 82.8% (95% CI, 78.3%-87.6%), 79.8% (95% CI, 75.0%-85.0%), and 79.8% (95% CI, 75.0%-85.0%) at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months, respectively. The 12-month target lesion revascularization rate across four studies (n = 324 patients) was 9.6% (95% CI, 6.4%-13.4%). In the two-stage meta-analysis of 6-month primary patency across three studies (n = 168 patients), the use of SESs was significantly favored over BMSs (risk ratio, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.12-1.46; P < .001).The overall evidence suggests that the use of SESs appears to be safe and offers favorable outcomes for BTK arterial disease compared with BMSs.