Outcomes following percutaneous coronary revascularisation in acute coronary syndromes: a comparison of drug coated balloon versus drug eluting stent strategies in de novo large epicardial vessels
H Khan, M Egred, M Alkhalil, I Purcell, T Cartlidge, M Farag, A Zaman, B BawamiaAbstract
Introduction
Drug coated balloons (DCB) in de novo large vessel disease and in acute coronary syndromes (ACS) remain under scrutiny with a paucity of data.
Purpose
This study reports on outcomes of a DCB only strategy compared to a drug eluting stent (DES) only strategy in large epicardial coronary arteries in an ACS population.
Methods
Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data on all ACS patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) from January 2021 to June 2025. The primary outcome was medium to long term major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE).
Results
There were 247 patients in the DCB arm with treated large epicardial vessels >3mm) and they were matched with 247 patients treated with DES. The median age was 64 (58-74) in the DCB group and 64 (57-73) in the DES group. No significant difference in MACE at median 21-month follow-up between the DCB and DES groups (10.1% vs 11.7%, p=0.94, all-cause mortality (5.3% vs 8.1%, p=0.44) or repeat revascularisation (4.9% vs 4.5%, p=0.49) in the DCB group compared to the DES group.
Conclusion
The medium-term clinical outcome following the use of a DCB only strategy in large vessel in ACS patient population was comparable to a DES only strategy.KM Graph of MACE after DCB and DES strategiesFor image description, please refer to the figure legend and surrounding text.