RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Scoring balloons produce excellent acute results in the treatment of in-stent restenosis (ISR), fibro-calcific and bifurcation lesions but have not been shown to affect the restenosis rate. A novel paclitaxel-coated scoring balloon (SB) was developed and tested to overcome this limitation. METHODS AND RESULTS: SB were coated with paclitaxel admixed with a specific excipient. Patients at four clinical sites in Germany and one in Brazil with ISR of coronary bare metal stent (BMS) were randomized 1:1 to treatment with either a drug-coated or uncoated SB. Baseline and 6-month follow-up quantitative coronary angiography was performed by an independent blinded core lab and all patients will be evaluated clinically for up to one year. The primary endpoint was angiographic in-segment late lumen loss (LLL). Secondary endpoints included the rate of clinically driven target lesion revascularization (TLR), composite of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), stent thrombosis and other variables. Sixty-one patients were randomized (28 uncoated and 33 drug-coated SB); mean age 65 years, males 72%, and presence of diabetes 39%. At 6-month angiography, in-segment LLL was 0.48 ± 0.51 mm in the uncoated SB group versus 0.17 ± 0.40 mm in the drug-coated SB group (P = 0.01; ITT analysis). The rate of binary restenosis was 41% in the uncoated SB group versus 7% in the drug-coated SB group (P = 0.004). The MACE rate was 32% with the uncoated SB vs. 6% in the drug-coated SB group (P = 0.016). This difference was primarily due to the reduced need for clinically driven TLR in the coated SB group (3% vs. 32% P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: A novel paclitaxel-coated coronary SB has been developed and successfully used in a first-in-human randomized controlled trial [ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01495533]. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.