There were good clinical outcomes of drug-eluting balloon (DEB) use in de novo lesions and in-
stent restenosis (ISR) lesions. However, few studies focused on DEB use in patients with acute
myocardial infarction (AMI). The aim of this study was to retrospective evaluate the efficacy of DEB for patients of AMI with de novo small
coronary artery disease. Between March 2016 and March 2018, patients of AMI with de novo small coronary artery (reference diameter 2.0-2.8 mm) and received
percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were enrolled. 268 patients were divided into DEB group (PCI with further DEB, n = 56) and
drug-eluting stent (DES) group (PCI with further DES, n = 212). The primary endpoint was
major adverse cardiac events (
MACE; all-cause death, non-fatal
myocardial infarction, target lesion revascularization and target vessel revascularization) at 24 months. A subset of patients underwent angiographic follow-up. Clinical characteristics were balanced in the two groups. Mean reference vessel diameter was similar between the DEB and DES groups (2.64 ± 0.17 mm vs 2.65 ± 0.14 mm, P = 0.625). The 24-month
MACE rates were 17.5% in DEB group and 16.4% in DES group (P = 0.853).
Stent thrombosis was seen in three patients (1.46%) in DES group. There was no vessel
thrombosis noted in the DEB group. Angiographic follow-up was performed in 35.71% of DEB group and 27.25% of DES group. Late lumen loss was similar between the two groups (DEB 0.14 ± 0.13 mm, DES 0.19 ± 0.12 mm, P = 0.442). DEB is a reasonable strategy for AMI with small coronary artery. Compared with DES, DEB is an alternative strategy which had similar 24-month clinical outcomes.