High-pressure, non compliant balloon angioplasty for long and calcified infrapopliteal and inframalleolar lesions is feasible

Do Balloon Catheters have a Different Radial Force Along Their Longitudinal Axis?

PURPOSE

This experimental study was designed to compare radial forces between the central portion and both ends of balloon catheters when dilating stenosis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Three balloon catheters of 6 and 8 mm in diameter and of variable length were tested: Mustang, Conquest, and Genoss PTA. Cylindrical modules to position balloon catheters and install the measuring tip during radial force measurements were made using a 3D printer. The measuring tip created 20% stenosis at the inner lumen. Both ends and center of the balloon catheter were located at the measuring tip. The radial force was measured after inflating the balloon catheter to the rated burst pressure.

RESULTS

For the different diameters and lengths of balloon catheters and cylinder sizes, the median inccenter, the radial rease in radial force at the distal end compared to the center was 16.5% (range: 9.8-35.2%) for Mustang, 12.4% (range: 10.3-25.5%) for Genoss, and 7.4% (range: -0.3-13.1%) for Conquest balloon catheters. Similarly, compared to that at the force at the proximal end was 10.8% greater (range: -2.9-18.3%) for Mustang, 9.9% greater (range: 3.9-22.3%) for Genoss, and 7.3% greater (range: -1.3-12.4%) for Conquest catheters.

CONCLUSION

The radial force is greater at both ends of the balloon than at the central portion, especially at the distal end. Dilation using the distal end of the balloon catheter is a practical method that can be applied in clinical practice without additional devices when encountering resistant stenosis, especially with semi-compliant balloons.

MagicTouch PTA Sirolimus-Coated Balloon for Femoropopliteal and Below-the-Knee Disease: 3-Year Outcomes of the XTOSI Trial

BACKGROUND

Sirolimus-coated balloon (SCB) is a potential treatment option for peripheral arterial disease (PAD). There are currently no long-term clinical data for this novel treatment for PAD. We present the 3-year results of the first-in-human study of MagicTouch PTA SCB for treatment of PAD for both femoropopliteal and below-the-knee arteries.

METHODS

The XTOSI pilot study is a prospective, single-arm, open-label, single-center trial evaluating MagicTouch PTA SCB for symptomatic PAD. Assessments through 3 years included freedom from clinically driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR), freedom from major amputation, amputation-free survival (AFS), overall survival, and ulcer-free status.

RESULTS

At 3 years, the overall freedom from CD-TLR was 84.4%, freedom from major amputation was 86.1%, AFS was 63.3%, overall survival was 63.3%, and ulcer-free status in remaining survivors with intact limbs was 100%. For femoropopliteal lesions, at 3 years, the freedom from CD-TLR was 92.9%, freedom from major amputation was 93.3%, AFS was 70%, and overall survival was 70%. For below-the-knee lesions, at 3 years, the freedom from CD-TLR was 77.8%, freedom from major amputation was 81.0%, AFS was 58.6%, and overall survival was 58.6%.

CONCLUSIONS

SCB in the XTOSI pilot study showed promising clinical results sustained to 3 years, and no long-term safety concerns were raised. Randomized trials are currently ongoing to investigate the safety and efficacy of SCB for treatment of PAD.

Outcomes of Noncompliant Balloons in the Treatment of Lower Extremity Chronic Limb Threatening Ischemia: A Prospective Study

PURPOSE

This is a prospective study to investigate the clinical outcomes of using noncompliant balloons in lower limb angioplasty for chronic limb threatening ischemia (CLTI).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This is a prospective single-center cohort study performed at a local tertiary hospital in Singapore. Consecutive patients who underwent lower limb angioplasty for CLTI using a noncompliant balloon catheter were enrolled if they were aged 40 years and above, presented with CLTI Rutherford grade 4 to 6, and had TASC C or D lesions in the lower limb vessels that were at least 100mm in length. Patient demographics, Rutherford grading, lesion characteristics, complications, and follow-up data were collected and analyzed. The primary outcomes were 30-day freedom from major adverse events, amputation-free survival (AFS) at 12 months, and freedom from clinically driven target lesion revascularization (cdTLR) at 12 months. Secondary outcomes included clinical success and target lesion primary patency (TLPP) at 12 months. Amputation-free survival, freedom from cdTLR, and TLPP were calculated by Kaplan-Meier analysis.

RESULTS

From May 2020 to December 2021, 50 patients (50 limbs) were enrolled. 43 (86%) patients had diabetes mellitus, while 12 patients (24%) had end-stage renal failure. 85 lesions were treated, including 59 (69.4%) below-the-knee (BTK) lesions. All the lesions were TASC C (n=45, 52.9%) or TASC D (n=40, 47.1%) lesions. Mean lesion length was 231.4±116.2mm. Technical success rate was 96.5%. No patients were lost to follow-up. Median follow-up duration was 282 days (IQR: 31-390 days). One patient died on day 26 due to an acute myocardial infarction. Two patients had groin hematomas postprocedure, both of which were treated conservatively. AFS, freedom from cdTLR, and TLPP at 12 months postprocedure was 70.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 58.4%-83.9%), 90.1% (95% CI: 83.4%-97.4%), and 61.1% (95% CI: 50.7%-73.6%), respectively.

CONCLUSION

Early results have shown that the use of a high-pressure, noncompliant balloon is effective in lower limb angioplasty for CLTI in a highly challenging group of patients with a high prevalence of long BTK disease. Good vessel patency and limb salvage rates can be achieved, with a low complication rate. We await more long-term outcomes on vessel patency.

CLINICAL IMPACT

There are many devices in the market for use in lower limb angioplasty. However, many of them come with an increased financial cost, procedural time and procedural difficulty. We report our prospective results with the exclusive use of a high pressure, non-compliant balloon, in a challening group of patients with a high prevalence of diabetes and end stage renal failure, achieving amputation free surival at 6 and 12 months post-procedure of 84.0% and 70.0% respectively. The use of non-compliant balloon is technically easy and does not add additional steps compared to a standard POBA procedure, thus limiting costs. We believe this article can be a push factor for clinicians to consider the use of these high pressure, non-compliant balloons in their patient care.

Treatment of Difficult, Calcified Lesions: Plaque Modification Strategies

Endovascular management of peripheral arterial disease is continually evolving. Most changes focus on addressing the challenges that hinder optimal patient outcomes; one of the most significant is how to best treat calcified lesions. Hardened plaque results in a variety of technical issues including impaired device delivery, decreased luminal revascularization, poor stent expansion, heightened risk of in-stent stenosis or thrombosis, and increased procedural time and cost. For this reason, plaque modification devices have been developed to mitigate this issue. This paper will describe these strategies and provide the reader with an overview of devices that can be used to treat chronically hardened lesions.

Combination therapy using scoring and sirolimus drug-coated balloons during lower limb endovascular revascularization for chronic limb threatening ischaemia: A case series

The aim of this case series was to document our early experience using combination therapy with UltraScore™ Focused Force percutaneous transluminal angioplasty balloon (BD Interventional, New Jersey, US) and Selution Sustained Limus Release (SLR)™ (M.A. MedAlliance SA, Nyon, Switzerland) sirolimus-coated balloon catheter for anti-restenotic drug elution, in the setting of multifocal high-grade stenosis for chronic limb threatening ischaemia. Our anecdotal experience was that preparing the lesion with scoring balloon and then using sirolimus drug-eluting balloon may have synergistic effect when used in tandem, especially in the setting of calcified arterial lesions, where the scoring wires may achieve deeper clefts within the atheromatous plaque to allow better drug absorption into the arterial wall. We report two cases with high-grade multifocal stenosis affecting the superficial femoral and anterior tibial arteries, respectively. Combination therapy using the scoring balloon to first prepare the lesion followed by sirolimus elution achieved technical and procedural success in both cases and a 100% 30-day primary patency. There were no complications related to flow-limiting dissections, vessel perforation or acute recoil. However, whether this combination therapy leads to better primary vessel patency with longer freedom from target lesion revascularization in the medium term remains to be determined.

Efficacy of High-Pressure Balloon for the Treatment of Arteriovenous Fistula Stenosis: A Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of high-pressure balloon (HPB) versus conventional balloon (CB) angioplasty in treating arteriovenous fistula (AVF) stenosis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A meta-analysis was conducted using data acquired from PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, SinoMed, CNKI, WanFang, and VIP databases from the time the databases were established to December 2020. All analyses included in the studies comprised the subgroups of HPB and CB. The patency rates of AVF were compared between 2 groups at 3, 6, and 12 months after operation.

RESULTS

Seven studies comprising 364 patients were included in the meta-analyses. The pooled results revealed that restenosis rate of AVFs treated with HPB was significantly lower than that of AVFs treated with CB at 3 months (odds ratio [OR] = 0.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.16 to 0.61, p<0.001) and 6 months after operation (OR= 0.29, 95% CI = 0.11 to 0.79, p = 0.01). In addition, the technical success rate of HPB groups was higher (OR = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.05 to 0.36, p<0.001). However, no significant difference was observed between HPB and CB groups at 12 months after operation (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.30 to 1.52, p = 0.35). No significant publication bias was observed in the analyses.

CONCLUSION

High-pressure balloon is a potential option for the treatment of AVF stenosis, with a lower 3- and 6-month restenosis rate than CB. However, 12-month patency rate of HPB was not superior to CB. Therefore, further studies should be conducted to investigate the mechanisms of restenosis after angioplasty.

Physician initiated, prospective, non-randomized Multi-center trial, Investigating the safety and Efficacy of the TReatment with the LuminorTM Drug Coated Balloon and the AngioliteTM Drug Eluting Stent of IVascular in TASC C and D Tibial Occlusive disease iN patients with critical limb ischemia: 12-month results

BACKGROUND

The aim of MERLION (NCT04073121) was to evaluate the outcomes of the mono or combination therapy of the iVascular LuminorTM drug coated balloon (DCB) and AngioliteTM drug eluting stent for treatment of TASC II C/D tibial occlusive lesions in Asian patients presenting with chronic limb threatening ischemia (CLTI) from Singapore.

METHODS

MERLION was a prospective, non-randomized, single arm, observational, multicenter clinical study. Complication-free survival at one month was the safety endpoint. Immediate technical success, 12-month primary vessel patency, limb salvage, freedom from target lesion revascularization (TLR) and amputation free survival (AFS) were the efficacy endpoints of interest.

RESULTS

50 patients were included. There were 32 males (64% males; mean age 66.4±8.9 years). Majority were Rutherford 5 severity (41/50; 82%). Co-morbidities included diabetes mellitus (47/50; 94.0%), end-stage renal failure (25/50; 50.0%), and hypertension (44/50; 88%). 66 atherosclerotic lesions were treated (47 de novo and 19 restenotic; 60.6% TASC C and 39.4% TASC D). Mean lesion length treated was 13.7±9.5cm. There was 100% technical success. There were 3/66 (4.5%) bailout stenting for severe flow limiting dissections. 12-month primary tibial patency was 34/49 (69.4%) and freedom from TLR was 40/49 (81.5%). AFS was 74.0% (37/50). At 12 months, mean Rutherford scores improved from 100% (Rutherford score>3) at baseline to 31% at 12 months (p<0.05) and wound healing rate was 65.7%.

CONCLUSIONS

The iVascular LuminorTM DCB is safe and efficacious in treating highly complex infra-popliteal atherosclerotic lesions in an otherwise challenging frail population of CLTI patients from Singapore.

The direct extravascular calcium interruption arterial procedure technique for heavily calcified vessels

Severely calcified lesions continue to plague endovascular interventions by negatively affecting the acute and long-term results. A new technique was developed to allow balloon crossing or to treat persistent recoil. In the direct extravascular calcium interruption arterial procedure technique, an artery forceps is percutaneously introduced to modify the plaque after conventional techniques have failed. In this initial experience, the direct extravascular calcium interruption arterial procedure technique was successful as a bailout option in patients in whom balloon crossing was impossible or recoil was untreatable even with high-pressure balloons.