Jos van den Berg (Lugano, Switzerland) tells Vascular News at CIRSE 2019 that the results of the APERTO AVF China trial provide strong evidence of the benefits of using the APERTO drug-coated balloon (DCB; Cardionovum) in haemodialysis patients who had stenosis of, mainly, de novo arteriovenous fistulas. The APERTO paclitaxel-releasing haemodialysis shunt balloon was tested against high-pressure balloons in a randomised fashion. Significantly more patients treated with APERTO were free of restenosis at six months and from clinically driven target lesion revascularisation at 12 months, compared to those treated with the high pressure balloon, says van den Berg, who also pointed to the fact that there was no cause for concern in terms of safety of the paclitaxel-coated device at one year.
There is now an “increase in the body of evidence” that supports a primary treatment strategy using DCB for arteriovenous fistula stenosis—and the landscape of treatment for vascular access stenosis “is going to change”, van den Berg, says.
This video is sponsored by Cardionovum.
