Aortic & peripheral vascular diseaseCohort study
3-Year Outcomes of Drug-Eluting Stent vs Drug-Coated Balloon for Femoropopliteal Artery Lesions
- Retrospective cohort study
- multicentre registry
- propensity-score matched
median follow-up (Q1-Q3) 22.5 months (8.8-37.1 months); 484 patency losses
Authors' conclusion
Despite successful lesion preparation, DES demonstrated significantly higher primary patency over 3 years. However, this did not translate into a clinical benefit, as freedom from CD-TLR rates remained comparable between groups.
Study context
- Population
- Patients undergoing endovascular therapy for femoropopliteal artery disease after successful lesion preparation (<50% residual stenosis, no Grade D or higher dissection)
- Participants
- 1,406 patients · 314 matched pairs
- Exposure
- Drug-eluting stents (DES) vs drug-coated balloons (DCB) without bailout stenting
- DESn = 342
- DCBn = 1,064reference
- Outcome
- Primary patency and freedom from clinically driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR)
- Follow-up
- 3 years
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
| Group | Primary patency | Freedom from clinically driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR) |
|---|---|---|
| DES | 65.3% (95% CI 58.9%-72.4%) | 73.2% (67.5%-79.4%) |
| DCB | 59.5% (54.8%-64.5%) | 72.2% (68.0-%76.7%) |
- DES vs DCB: P = 0.042 — primary patency
- DES vs DCB: P = 0.27 — freedom from CD-TLR
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Primary patency by lesion length >150 mm and dissection Grade C (subgroup)
- Greater benefit from DES in reducing restenosis risk
- interaction P = 0.007 (lesion length >150 mm)
- interaction P = 0.013 (dissection Grade C)
Original publication
3-Year Outcomes of Drug-Eluting Stent vs Drug-Coated Balloon for Femoropopliteal Artery Lesions. JACC Cardiovasc Interv. Published 8 September 2025. doi:10.1016/j.jcin.2025.07.034
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it