Drug-Coated Balloons: A Safe and Effective Alternative to Drug-Eluting Stents in Small Vessel Coronary Artery Disease

Background Drug-coated balloons (DCB) have been used to treat de novo small vessel coronary disease (SVD), with promising results and shorter dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) duration compared to drug-eluting stents (DES). We compared safety and effectiveness of the two treatments at 1 year. Methods We reviewed 3,613 angioplasty cases retrospectively from 2011 to 2013 and identified 335 patients with SVD treated with device diameter of ≤2.5 mm. DCB-only angioplasty was performed in 172 patients, whereas 163 patients were treated with second-generation DES. Results DCB patients had smaller reference vessel diameter (2.22 ± 0.30 vs. 2.44 ± 0.19 mm, P