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

BACKGROUND: 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.

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

METHODS: 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.

RESULTS: 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/m 2. Spline model analysis validated the non-linear associations between mortality, age, BMI, and NLR.

CONCLUSIONS: 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.