Long-Term Follow-up and Mortality Rate of Patients of the Randomized Freeway Stent Study.

Purpose: This follow-up study was designed as a reopen of the completed Freeway Stent Study and collected mortality and clinical outcome data for at least 5 years after enrollment to evaluate long-term patient safety and treatment efficacy. The primary study enrolled 204 patients with stenosis or occlusion in the superficial femoral artery and proximal popliteal artery. Patients were randomized to primary nitinol stenting followed by standard PTA or primary nitinol stenting followed by FREEWAY™ paclitaxel-eluting balloon PTA.

The Randomized Freeway Stent Study: Drug-Eluting Balloons Outperform Standard Balloon Angioplasty for Postdilatation of Nitinol Stents in the SFA and PI Segment.

Purpose: The prospective randomized multicenter Freeway study evaluated the possible hemodynamic and clinical benefits of primary stent insertion followed by percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) with drug-eluting balloons (DEB) over post-stent insertion PTA with standard balloons in the treatment of symptomatic femoropopliteal arteriosclerotic lesions.

Methods: In total, 204 patients in 13 centers in Germany and Austria were enrolled and randomized to primary stenting followed by either FREEWAY™ drug-eluting balloon or standard PTA balloon angioplasty. The primary endpoint was the rate of clinically driven target lesion revascularization (TLR) at 6 months; the secondary endpoints include TLR rate at 12 months and primary patency, shift in Rutherford classification, ankle-brachial index (ABI) and major adverse events (MAE) at 6 and 12 months.

Coating of intravascular balloon with paclitaxel prevents constrictive remodeling of the dilated porcine femoral artery due to inhibition of intimal and media fibrosis.

Here we investigated how a coating of intravascular balloon with paclitaxel (drug-coated balloon; DCB, Freeway™) impacted porcine peripheral artery vascular function and remodeling. Domestic swine (n = 54) underwent percutaneous overstretch balloon dilation of femoral and iliac arteries, controlled by angiography and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Paclitaxel tissue uptake was measured at 1 h and 1, 3, and 9 days post-dilation.

Paclitaxel-coated balloon for the treatment of drug-eluting stent restenosis: subanalysis results from the Valentines I trial.

Objectives: To analyze the effect of paclitaxel-coated balloon (PCB) treatment on patients with drug-eluting stent (DES) restenosis.

Background: In the Valentines I trial, treatment of coronary in-stent restenosis was effective and safe with the second-generation DIOR® PCB.

Methods: Valentines I prospectively enrolled 250 patients with in-stent restenosis (ISR); 76 patients (30.

Drug-coated balloons for de novo coronary lesions: results from the Valentines II trial.

Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of using the second-generation DIOR drug-coated balloons (DCB) as an adjunct to plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA) for the treatment of de novo coronary lesions.

Methods And Results: Valentines II was designed as a prospective, multicentre, multinational, web-based registry. Eligible patients with stable or unstable angina, and/or documented ischaemia on stress testing with de novo lesions of >50% stenosis were prospectively enrolled.

The Valentines Trial: results of the first one week worldwide multicentre enrolment trial, evaluating the real world usage of the second generation DIOR paclitaxel drug-eluting balloon for in-stent restenosis treatment.

Aim: To assess the safety and efficacy of the second generation DIOR paclitaxel drug-eluting balloon (DEB) for in-stent restenosis in a real world setting in a prospective single-arm registry with 8-month clinical outcomes.

Methods And Results: In this "real world", international prospective registry, patients with in-stent restenosis (bare-metal stent and drug-eluting stent) were enrolled- in a unique study design- with a one week enrolment period, spread over 104 centres worldwide. Patients underwent predilatation with a regular balloon, with subsequent DEB inflation in the target lesion.

Intrinsic phospholipase A2 activity of adeno-associated virus is involved in endosomal escape of incoming particles.

The unique region of the VP1 capsid protein of adeno-associated viruses (AAV) in common with autonomously replicating parvoviruses comprises a secreted phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) homology domain. While the sPLA2 domain of Minute Virus of Mice has recently been shown to mediate endosomal escape by lipolytic pore formation, experimental evidence for a similar function in AAV infection is still lacking. Here, we explored the function of the sPLA2 domain of AAV by making use of the serotype 2 mutant (76)HD/AN.