• Konstantinos Tigkiropoulos, Manolis Abatzis-Papadopoulos, Katerina Sidiropoulou, Kyriakos Stavridis, Dimitrios Karamanos, Ioannis Lazaridis, and Nikolaos Saratzis.
• Division of Vascular Surgery, 1st Surgical Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University, Papageorgiou General Hospital, 56429 Thessaloniki, Greece.
• Medicina (Kaunas). 2022 Dec 24; 59 (1).

AbstractBackground and Objectives: Endovascular technologies have significantly improved the outcome of patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI). Drug eluting stents (DES) have documented their efficacy against percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) and bare metal stents (BMS) in infrapopliteal arterial occlusive disease. However, late in-stent neoatherosclerosis may lead to vascular lumen loss and eventually thrombosis. Polymer free DES constitute a new technology aiming to improve long term patency which their action is still under investigation. The purpose of this study is to report the mechanism of action and to provide a literature review of a novel polymer free amphilimus eluting stent (Cre8, Alvimedica, Instabul, Turkey) in infrapopliteal arterial disease. Methods: Publications listed in electronic databases, European Union Drug Regulating Authorities Clinical Trials Database, as well as scientific programmes of recent interventional vascular conferences were searched. Three studies were included. We analyzed primary and secondary patency, major amputation rate, freedom from CD-TLR, and mortality. Results: Cre8 was implanted in 79 patients with CLI. Most of the patients (n = 65) were Rutherford class 5-6 (82.3%), and diabetes mellitus (DM) was present in 66 patients (83.5%). Mean primary patency was 82.5% at 12 months. Mean lesion stented length was 20 mm and 35 mm in two studies. Mean limb salvage was 91.3% at 12 months. Freedom from CD-TLR was reported in two out of the three studies and was 96% and 83.8%. Mortality was 15% and 23.8% in the same studies, whilst it was not reported in one study. Conclusion: Stenting of infrapopliteal arteries with Cre8 is safe and feasible in patients with CLI and diabetes. All studies have shown very good primary patency and freedom from CD-TLR at 12 and 24 months. Larger observational prospective studies and randomized trials are necessary to establish long term effectiveness and clinical outcomes using the non-polymer Cre8 DES.

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