AHA: Drug-Eluting Balloons Promising Alternative to Stents

And, PCI with drug-eluting balloons also feasible in patients at risk of bleeding complications

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Percutaneous coronary intervention with drug eluting balloons (DEB-PCI) in bare-metal stents (BMS) is a promising alternative to drug-eluting stents (DES) with low repeat restenosis and target lesion revascularization (TLR), and is also feasible in patients at high risk of bleeding complications, according to two studies presented at the 2011 American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions, held from Nov. 12 to 16 in Orlando, Fla.

Mariusz Zadura, M.D., from the Heart and Diabetes Center of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Karlsburg, Germany, and colleagues investigated whether DEB-PCI in BMS is an alternative to DES. A total of 91 lesions from 84 patients with BMS in-stent-restenosis were analyzed between April 2009 and November 2010. Angiography after six to nine months showed no significant loss of gain in 93.4 percent of lesions. Repeat in-stent-restenosis occurred in six lesions, and TLR was done in three patients (DES in two patients and repeat DEB in one).

In a second study, Zadura and colleagues investigated the feasibility of DEB-PCI in 73 lesions from 63 patients who had strong indications for coumarins or contraindications for long-lasting dual anti-platelet therapy. Repeat angiography at six to nine months showed no significant loss of gain in 94.5 percent of lesions, with restenosis (>50 percent of vessel lumen) occurring in four patients. TLR was performed in two of the patients.

"DEB-PCI in patients with a high risk of bleeding complications is a feasible therapeutic alternative to DES since a much shorter period of combined anticoagulation is needed," the authors of the second study write.

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