ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Prolonged dual-antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in high bleeding risk (HBR) patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention can be challenging. We assessed the clinical safety of bare-metal stent (BMS) implantation followed by drug-coated balloon (DCB) treatment in HBR patients for whom drug-eluting stent implantation could be problematic in maintaining low ischemic event rate without increasing hemorrhagic events. METHODS: The study included patients with at least 1 de novo lesion who were either under long-term anticoagulant treatment or required semi-urgent non-coronary intervention. The strategy consisted of PRO-Kinetic Energy BMS stent (Biotronik AG) implantation followed by Pantera Lux DCB (Biotronik AG) and patients were followed for up to 12 months in 37 French centers. RESULTS: Between October 2013 and April 2015, a total of 432 patients with 623 de novo lesions who were either under long-term anticoagulant treatment (n = 300) or required semi-urgent non-cardiac surgery (n = 132) were treated by BMS plus DCB. Mean patient age was 74.1 ± 9.1 years, 76.4% were men, and 38% were diabetic. The composite primary endpoint rate (defined as target-lesion failure at 12 months) was 5.6% (95% confidence interval, 3.3-7.9). Median duration for DAPT treatment was 33 days. Hemorrhagic events, as defined by the Bleeding Academic Research Consortium, occurred in 31 patients (7.2%) and definite stent thrombosis occurred in 5 patients (1.3%). CONCLUSIONS: The combination of BMS plus DCB intervention is safe even with a short duration of DAPT. This strategy might be an alternative to DES implantation in HBR patients if future randomized trials support this approach.