The objective of this study was to assess the 12-month clinical outcomes in patients with drug-eluting stent in-stent restenosis (DES-ISR) who were either predilated with non-compliant balloons (NCBA) and with additional scoring balloons (NCBA+SBA) prior to drug coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty.

This monocentric, retrospective study included patients with DES-ISR who were routinely treated over a 2-year time span. Patients with stable angina and documented ischemia or selected forms of unstable angina due to a culprit DES-ISR lesion were analyzed. The primary endpoint was the clinically driven target-lesion revascularization (TLR) rate at 12 months. Secondary endpoints included postinterventional lumen gain and late lumen loss (LLL) at 6 months.

The 12-month TLR rates in 124 patients who underwent either NCBA+SBA or NCBA only group were not different (17.3%, 9/52 vs. 11.6%, 8/69, P=0.371) and low as compared to other comparable studies. The use of SBA led to equally high post minimal lumen diameters (MLD) in both treatment arms (NCBA 2.21±0.33 vs. NCBA+SBA 2.18±0.41, P=0.868). We did not find a significant difference in late lumen loss (LLL) between both groups (0.50±0.62mm vs. 0.40±0.46mm, P=0.468).

Scoring Balloon Angioplasty can safely and effectively prepare DES-ISR lesions to render them suitable for DCB angioplasty with acceptable TLR and MACE rates.