IMPERIAL: Eluvia stent tops Zilver PTX for PAD

M. Alexander Otto

“I was surprised at the results” of the IMPERIAL trial, coinvestigator and interventional cardiologist Michael Jaff, MD, said. “Even though the primary analysis says it met noninferiority, the secondary prespecified analysis of superiority was pretty impressive,” but whether people start shifting from Zilver PTX depends on price.

“If [Boston Scientific] prices this at a premium and my doctors come to me and say ‘You’ve got to let us buy this,’ it’s going to be a hard sell for me,” said Dr. Jaff, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, and president of the nearby Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Mass.

As for shifting away from drug-coated balloons, which are an increasingly popular option, a head-to-head trial is in order. If it turns out Eluvia doesn’t “have a huge advantage, I’d start off with a drug-coated balloon. You leave yourself every option going down the road if it fails. If you have a stent that fails, it’s harder to work with,” he said.