Stellarex Drug-Coated Balloon for the Treatment of Peripheral Artery Disease: Five-Year Results from the ILLUMENATE Pivotal Randomized Controlled Trial

This study aimed to report the 5-year outcomes from the ILLUMENATE Pivotal randomized controlled trial of the lower dose (2 µg/mm²) Stellarex drug-coated balloon (DCB) (Philips, formerly Spectranetics Corp, Colorado Springs, Colorado) compared with percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) for the treatment of symptomatic peripheral arterial disease. Long-term safety and effectiveness data for DCBs remains limited. The ILLUMENATE Pivotal was a prospective, randomized, multi-center, single-blinded study. Patients (Rutherford Clinical Category 2 to 4) were randomized 2:1 to Stellarex DCB or PTA. Follow-up was through 60 months. In total, 300 patients were enrolled. The mean age was 68.8 ± 10.2 years. At 60 months, freedom from a primary safety event was 69.2% in the Stellarex DCB arm and 68.2% in the PTA arm (log-rank, p = 0.623). The cumulative rate of major adverse events was 41.0% compared with 44.6% (p = 0.597), respectively. Freedom from clinically-driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR) was 70.3% in the Stellarex DCB arm compared with 68.2% in the PTA arm (p = 0.505). Time to first CD-TLR was 768.3 ± 478.9 days compared with 613.5 ± 453.4 days, respectively (p = 0.161). Kaplan-Meier estimates of freedom from all-cause mortality were 80.1% in the Stellarex DCB arm and 80.2% in the PTA arm (log-rank, p = 0.980). In conclusion, the 5-year results of the ILLUMENATE Pivotal randomized controlled trial add to the consistent safety data from the broader ILLUMENATE clinical program. These are the first data to report the 5-year safety and efficacy of a lower dose (2 µg/mm²) DCB for the treatment of symptomatic peripheral arterial disease. Clinicaltrials.gov