Atherectomy and Drug-Coated Balloon Angioplasty for the Treatment of Long Infrapopliteal Lesions: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Prospective, randomized, multicenter trials show no beneficial impact of drug-coated balloon (DCB) therapy alone on the technical and clinical outcomes of infrapopliteal artery lesions in comparison to plain old balloon angioplasty. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of directional atherectomy (DA) plus DCB angioplasty versus DCB alone in treatment of long infrapopliteal artery lesions. Methods: We conducted a prospective, randomized, 2-center trial comparing the performance of DA+DCB and DCB alone in treatment of 80 patients with de novo infrapopliteal artery lesions. The primary study end point was the 6-month primary patency of the target lesion detected by angiography and duplex ultrasound. Secondary end points included clinically driven target vessel revascularization, amputation rates, and changes in Rutherford-Becker class at 1 year. A core laboratory provides independent analyses for all scheduled and unscheduled duplex ultrasound examinations and angiographies, and a research institute ensured independent data collection. Results: The mean target lesion length was 179.7±98.2 mm. Nine patients (11.3%) died during the follow-up period. At 6 months, primary patency was 49% (n=18) with DA+DCB versus 34% (n=12) with DCB alone ( P =0.241), and clinically driven target vessel revascularization was 8% (n=3) versus 14% (n=5; P =0.475), respectively. At 1 year, the target lesion revascularization rates were 30% (n=10) versus 43% (n=12; P =0.308), the median in Rutherford-Becker class was 2 (0.25–5) versus 5 (0.25–5; P =0.329), and amputation rates were 22% (n=8) versus 32% (n=11; P =0.618) in the DA+DCB group and the DCB group, respectively. Conclusions: Treatment of long infrapopliteal artery lesions with DA+DCB versus DCB alone leads to comparable clinical and technical results at 6 months and 1 year. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov ; Unique identifier: NCT01763476.