Safety and feasibility of bioabsorbable everolimus-eluting stents for patients with internal pudendal artery-related arteriogenic erectile dysfunction (PERFECT-ABSORB)

Obstructive pelvic arterial lesions are present in ∼70% of patients aged >50 years and having erectile dysfunction. The internal pudendal artery, with an average diameter of 2.5 mm, is the segment where ∼40% of pelvic obstructive lesions are located. Our prior experience showed a 40–50% binary restenosis rate for drug-eluting stents in internal pudendal artery. In this PERFECT-ABSORB study, we would like to assess the feasibility and safety of the bioresorbable everolimus-eluting vascular scaffolds (BVS), facilitated by intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT), in patients with erectile dysfunction and concomitant internal pudendal artery stenoses.

This prospective, unblinded, single-arm, single-center study was a first-in-man proof-of-concept study. Patients with erectile dysfunction and obstructive pelvic arterial lesions (unilateral diameter stenosis ≥70% or bilateral stenoses ≥50%) in the internal pudendal arteries with reference vessel diameter ≥2.5 mm and ≤4.0 mm and a target-lesion length ≤30 mm in the pelvic computed tomographic (CT) angiography were recruited. All subjects underwent pelvic CT angiography, penile Doppler ultrasonography, and invasive pelvic angiography with OCT at baseline and 8 months after intervention. The primary endpoint is CT angiographic binary restenosis (≥50% lumen diameter stenosis) at 8 months. The secondary endpoints include sustained clinical success in erectile function (International Index for Erectile Function-5 [IIEF-5] score ≥22 or change in IIEF-5 ≥4 and without a later decline by ≥4) at 12 months.

Eighteen patients were enrolled (mean age, 61.8±5.6 years; range, 52–71 years). The IIEF-5 score at baseline was 7.3±3.6, with a median duration of erectile dysfunction of 3 years. A total of 31 BVSs were implanted: seven patients were treated with one BVS, 9 patients with 2 BVSs, and 2 patients with 3 BVSs. All implanted BVSs were of 2.5 mm in diameter. Among the 17 patients undergoing 8-month follow-up pelvic CT angiography and invasive angiography (one not done due to colon cancer diagnosed later), binary CT angiographic restenosis developed in 7 (37%) of 19 lesions and 7 (41%) of 17 patients. After excluding those with lesions >30 mm (per-protocol analysis), binary CT angiographic restenosis developed in 5 (31%) of 16 lesions and 5 (36%) of 14 patients. Binary restenosis assessed by invasive angiography and OCT was the same as assessed by pelvic CT angiography. Among the 17 patients, 9 (53%) achieved sustained clinical success in erectile function 12 months following the procedure. All of them did not develop binary restenosis.

We for the first time demonstrated that BVS+OCT strategy for internal pudendal artery stenosis was safe and able to achieve 30% restenosis rate in lesions ≤30 mm in length. Compared to our prior experience, BVS+OCT strategy was associated with a numerically lower restenosis rate.

Type of funding source: None