“First victory” in BTK space demonstrates lessons learned and paves the way for real-world analysis

Lawrence Garcia (St Francis Hospital, New York, USA) speaks to Vascular News at VIVA 2023 (30 October–2 November, Las Vegas, USA) on lessons learned from a series of failed below-the-knee (BTK) trials that preceded the recent “first victory” of LIFE-BTK. He highlights the importance of careful patient selection and defining a specific endpoint in particular.

Garcia also considers how the technology for BTK interventions has changed over time, and outlines some key unanswered questions in the space. One of the major challenges going forward will be identifying best treatment in a real-world setting, he says, identifying this type of analysis as the “holy grail” in chronic limb-threatening ischaemia (CLTI) patients.