Drug-coated balloons across different scenarios. Long-term single center experience

To the Editor, Currently, drug-coated balloons (DCBs) are used across many different scenarios.1 There is solid evidence supporting their use in any type of in-stent restenosis (ISR), whether related to bare metal or drug-eluting stents (DES). Other studied settings include small vessels, diffuse disease, and bifurcations. As there is the need for real-world data with long term follow-up, we sought to conduct a retrospective assessment on the long-term outcomes (1-year follow-up) of patients treated with DCB in our center. The use of DCBs was left to the physician’s discretion, provided good lesion preparation was achieved, with < 30% residual percent diameter stenosis and no flow-limiting dissections. Patients were categorized into 4 groups based on their anatomical context: ISR, small vessels ([SV] reference diameter ≤ 2.5 mm), bifurcations ([Bif], whenever the operator wired the side branch, even if ≤ 2.5 mm) and others (lesions outside the previous groups, where a good angiographic result was achieved with lesion preparation). We attempted percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with DCB was attempted in 298 lesions in 290 patients (table 1). Bailout stenting was performed in 9 procedures. One DCB was not deliv- ered due to proximal tortuosity. Only 5 patients received sirolimus- eluting balloons, all others were paclitaxel-eluting. There...