Paclitaxel Drug-Coated Balloons in Peripheral Artery Disease: Who's Trying to Shoot the Football Star?

摘要

Over the last decade, the outcomes of endovascular treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD) have improved significantly, and nowadays, percutaneous revascularization is recommended either as a consistent alternative to surgery, or even as first-line therapy, according to different guidelines [1,2]. Drug-coated balloons (DCB) are emerging as one of the most interesting therapeutic strategies in this setting. Indeed, there are several different DCB marketed in Europe, and few of them in the US. The literature offers a significant amount of data on the short- and mid-term outcome of these devices, but a real comparison between them is not available yet. For this reason, reviews like the one by Shanmugasundaram and colleagues [3] are a useful tool to shed some light on this class of devices. This article offers a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the current "state of the art" on DCB for the treatment of PAD, covering all fields of application of this technology, from aorto-iliac to femoro-popliteal disease, both in native vessels and in-stent restenosis. The article covers both positive and negative outcomes of the main available studies. It provides also a dedicated section on the recommended procedural steps for a successful implantation [4], and it will certainly catch the interest of the reader who wants to better understand this technology.