Repetition of Paclitaxel-Coated Devices for the Treatment of Lower Extremity Artery Disease: Mortality Outcomes and...

A recent meta-analysis reported late excess mortality in patients treated with paclitaxel-coated devices (PCDs) for symptomatic femoropopliteal disease. However, this finding is controversial.

To investigate the impact on mortality and predictors of repeat exposure to PCDs in patients with lower extremity peripheral arterial disease (LE-PAD).

We analyzed registry patient-level data from two centers. A total of 214 patients were enrolled, and stratified based on terciles of cumulative dose of paclitaxel. We treated 134 patients with a single PCD exposure and 80 with multiple PCD exposures. We used the follow-up index (FUI) in Kaplan-Meier survival estimates to minimize potential selection bias. We used Cox proportional hazard and splines models to determine the predictors of mortality and assess their relationships with mortality.

The mean cumulative dose of paclitaxel was significantly different among groups (6.40 mg vs. 15.06 mg vs. 38.57 mg, p < 0.001). The 5-year FUI (0.93 ± 0.19 vs. 0.94 ± 0.18 vs. 0.95 ± 0.15, p = 0.836) and survival rates were not different (65.4% vs. 51.9% vs. 72.0%, p = 0.148). There was no dose-response association between paclitaxel dosage and death (p = 0.297). The predictors of death were congestive heart failure, stroke, dialysis dependence, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) > 3, age > 71 years, and body mass index (BMI) < 20 kg/m². Spline model analysis validated the non-linear associations between mortality, age, BMI, and NLR.

Repeated PCD exposure for LE-PAD did not result in excess late mortality. Predictors of mortality might change over time, and continuous variables had non-linear relationships with death.