Drug-coated balloons: how should we incorporate into our practice in treating superficial femoral artery lesions?

Drug-coated balloons (DCBs) provide a novel method to locally deliver paclitaxel into the arterial wall without the need of a chronically implanted delivery system. Following the first positive pilot studies, two large pivotal trials have confirmed superiority of DCBs over plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA) in the treatment of TASC II A and B femoro-popliteal lesions. Even for more complex femoro-popliteal lesions such as long lesions and in-stent restenosis, single-center studies and small randomized studies have shown promising mid-term technical and clinical results. This review article summarizes the current knowledge about DCBs in femoro-popliteal interventions, supplements published guidelines with evidence-based recommendations, and discusses still unresolved needs.