Sean Lyden (Cleveland, USA), current VIVA Board president, speaks to Vascular News about his two years at the helm, which began with the “controversy on paclitaxel” and has led right up to COVID-19 and the first virtual VIVA meeting. Ten “amazing” late-breaking trials, two of which “brought increased clarity to the paclitaxel controversy”, were among the highlights of VIVA 2020, notes Lyden.
He goes on discuss the findings of a four-year meta-analysis from two major randomised controlled trials–ILLUMENATE EU and ILLUMENATE Pivotal– and explains why these results are so important. There was no significant difference in survival among patients treated with the low-dose Stellarex paclitaxel-coated balloon (85.7%) compared to those treated with percutaneous angioplasty (85.6%), notes Lyden.
More generally, Lyden brings attention to some of the current hot topics in the field of vascular medicine, including the continued vetting of the use of paclitaxel, the advent of new devices for the tibial section and the treatment of pulmonary embolism, which he states has been an “amazing breakthrough area”.