Rittger H et al. – Paclitaxel–coated balloon angioplasty is superior to balloon angioplasty alone for treatment of drug–eluting stent restenosis.Methods
- In this prospective, single–blind, multicenter, randomized trial, the authors randomly assigned 110 patients with drug–eluting stent restenoses located in a native coronary artery to paclitaxel–coated balloon angioplasty or uncoated balloon angioplasty.
- Dual antiplatelet therapy was prescribed for 6 months.
- Angiographic follow–up was scheduled at 6 months.
- The primary endpoint was late lumen loss.
- The secondary clinical endpoint was a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction attributed to the target vessel, or target lesion revascularization.
- There was no difference in patient baseline characteristics or procedural results.
- Angiographic follow–up rate was 91%.
- Treatment with paclitaxel–coated balloon was superior to balloon angioplasty alone with a late loss of 0.43 ± 0.61 mm versus 1.03 ± 0.77 mm (p < 0.001), respectively.
- Restenosis rate was significantly reduced from 58.1% to 17.2% (p < 0.001), and the composite clinical endpoint was significantly reduced from 50.0% to 16.7% (p < 0.001), respectively.