ARTICLE SUMMARY:
The market is heating up for drug-coated balloons in the peripheral vasculature, with the latest clinical results presented at TCT this month. Although there are lingering questions about this technology, adoption appears to be expanding rapidly, particularly in the US, where the reimbursement picture has improved steadily since the devices were launched about a year ago.
At this year’s Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting, held earlier this month in San Francisco, CA, Medtronic PLC and CR Bard Inc. reported the latest clinical outcomes data with their respective drug-coated balloons (DCBs), used to treat peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in the superficial femoral and proximal popliteal arteries in the upper leg.
