Drug-coated balloons in interventional cardiology

Over the last few years, drug-coated balloon (DCB) therapy has emerged as a promising therapeutic intervention for the management of obstructive cardiovascular disease. The dictum of this novel technology is that effective prevention of restenosis can be achieved by the short-term transfer of antiproliferative drug to local arterial tissue by means of a single prolonged balloon angioplasty dilatation. Its main attraction is that no foreign body is implanted eliminating thus the risk of late inflammatory response to device components without preventing positive remodeling. Here, we discuss the evidence regarding the effectiveness of DCB in different lesion types and clinical settings as well as the types of DCB commercially available or under development.