Assessment of Scoring Balloons in STEMI Patients Treated With DCB-Only Angioplasty: A Single Center Study.

Background And Aims: A randomized trial has previously demonstrated that neointimal modification with a scoring balloon improves the anti-restenotic effect of drug-coated balloon (DCB) in patients with drug-eluting stent restenosis. There are very limited data about the safety and efficacy of using scoring balloons as part of lesion preparation in patients with STEMI, especially in patients with de novo disease treated with DCB-only angioplasty.

Methods: We undertook an analysis of the SPARTAN Norwich Registry to address this question.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the use of drug-coated balloon angioplasty for treatment of both de novo and in-stent coronary chronic total occlusions.

Background: Modern contemporary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) techniques with drug-eluting stents (DES) have high procedural success rates in chronic total occlusion (CTO) but with a high prevalence of repeat revascularization. The use of drug-coated balloons (DCBs) in CTO is an alternative treatment strategy. The evidence for DCBs in CTO is, therefore, of interest, and we provide a structured and comprehensive review of the evidence available in terms of the use of DCBs in CTO, including de novo and in-stent (IS) CTO lesions.

Assessment of Paclitaxel Drug-Coated Balloon-Only Angioplasty for Stent Thrombosis: SPARTAN-ST Study.

Background: There are no data regarding the outcomes of patients with stent thrombosis (ST) being treated with drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty. Our aim was to compare the outcomes of patients with ST treated with DCB vs. a drug eluting stent (DES).

Coronary Dissection - Back to the Future - Finding Good in the Bad!

It has been recognized for decades that dissections occur as a mechanism of balloon angioplasty. A successful angioplasty result contains some degree of intimal splitting and disruption, which usually heals well. Nonetheless, some dissections are extensive, leading to serious ischaemic complications.