UK medtech regulators on Monday announced that manufacturers of paclitaxel-eluting balloons for use in peripheral arteries must add a warning label about the devices’ risks.
A meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in 2018 suggested that patients treated with paclitaxel-coated balloons and stents for peripheral artery disease could be at a higher risk for late death compared to people treated with uncoated balloons. Led by Dr. Konstantinos Katsanos, researchers looked at data from 28 trials and discovered that there was a 68% relative risk increase in all-cause death with paclitaxel-coated devices after 5 years and a 93% relative risk after 5 years compared to therapy with an uncoated balloon.
