Utility of a 0.035″ compatible rapid-exchange balloon (Metacross RX™) as a perfusion balloon in endovascular therapy compared with conventional percutaneous coronary intervention: A mini-review.

Since endovascular treatment for peripheral artery disease has been rapidly and widely adopted as the preferred strategy, interventionists sometimes experience complications such as vessel perforation and severe dissections. We have a long-time inflation strategy for perfusion balloon catheters, which could be a solution for vessel complications in coronary sections, but not in peripheral sections. We invented a simple device for application as a perfusion balloon in peripheral sections, using a 0.035″ wire compatible rapid-exchange balloon Metacross RX™ (TERUMO, Tokyo, Japan) and reviewed this strategy using three cases as examples and compared them with the coronary perfusion balloon.

TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY: Metacross RX (TERUMO, Tokyo, Japan) is being used as a rapid exchange balloon and can be potentially used as a perfusion balloon. We report a series of cases in which patients were treated using the Metacross RX at a single-center for endovascular treatment of peripheral artery disease. We review and discuss the use of this device in comparison with the conventional coronary perfusion balloon catheter.