Intravascular brachytherapy versus drug-coated balloons for in-stent restenosis: A two-center two-strategy comparison

In-stent restenosis remains a persistent challenge in interventional cardiology. While both intravascular brachytherapy (IVB) and drug-coated balloons (DCB) have been used to treat this condition, their comparative effectiveness has never been evaluated.

To compare the efficacy and safety of IVB versus DCB for the treatment of in-stent restenosis.

This dual-center study compared 2-year outcomes between patients treated with IVB and DCB. Propensity score matching was performed for age, sex, vessel size, and ejection fraction. Primary outcomes included all-cause mortality and target lesion revascularization (TLR).

DCB treatment was associated with shorter procedure times median 52 IQR[40.0,68.0] vs 72 IQR[60.0,92.0] min, p < 0.01) and reduced contrast use (median 121 IQR[76.50,155.0] vs 140 IQR[100.0,200.0] mL, p = 0.03). In the propensity-matched cohort, MACE rates were similar (43.3 % vs 47.7 %, p = 0.55). DCB treatment demonstrated significantly lower TLR rates compared to IVB (4.4 % vs 18.9 %, p < 0.01) and reduced target vessel myocardial infarctions (3.3 % vs 13.3 %, p = 0.02). All-cause mortality (14.4 % vs 7.8 %, p = 0.15) and cardiac death rates (6.7 % vs 4.4 %, p = 0.52) were similar between groups.

In this first-ever comparison with 2-year follow-up, DCB was associated with similar MACE rates compared to IVB but demonstrated lower TLR rates. All-cause mortality and cardiac death rates were comparable. These findings may suggest that DCB offers superior efficacy for ISR treatment, though careful patient selection remains important when considering treatment modalities.