Three-Year Outcomes of Chronic Total Occlusion (CTO) versus Non-CTO Femoropopliteal Lesions Treated With Atherectomy Followed by Drug-Coated Balloon Angioplasty

Background Endovascular intervention of the femoropopliteal chronic total occlusions (CTOs) is technically challenging and associated with increased rates of treatment failure and complications. The long-term patency of CTOs of the femoropopliteal segment treated with contemporary tools, such as atherectomy and drug-eluting technology, is not well studied. Methods We performed a prospective, single-center analysis of 60 consecutive patients with femoropopliteal disease successfully treated with either directional or orbital atherectomy followed by paclitaxel drug-coated balloon (DCB). Endpoints of interest were freedom from restenosis and revascularization following atherectomy and DCB angioplasty. All patients underwent clinical and imaging evaluation for 3 years to identify evidence of target lesion restenosis (RS) and revascularization (TLR). Results There were 26 patients with CTO and 34 patients with non-CTO lesions. Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics were similar between the CTO and non-CTO groups other than ankle-brachial indices (ABI, 0.73 ± 0.11 vs 0.88 ± 0.14, P < 0.001). Kaplan Meier (KM) analysis for freedom from RS and TLR at 3 years was similar among the 2 groups (log rank p; 0.42, 0.69 respectively). Post-procedure, all patients had improvement of claudication, normalization of ABI indexes and duplex ultrasound velocities. Conclusion Freedom from target lesion restenosis and revascularization at 3 years were similar between CTO and non-CTO lesions treated with atherectomy followed by DCB angioplasty. These findings underscore the importance of optimal vessel preparation to achieve improved patency regardless of lesion morphology.