Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients Undergoing Drug-coated Balloon Angioplasty: The Initial 4-year Experience in Qatar

Background: A drug-coated balloon (DCB) allows treating the coronary artery lesions without permanent implantation of a metallic stent. International guidelines recommend DCB for the treatment of in-stent restenosis (ISR). Although DCB showed promising results in treating ISR, their role is still not well established in the broader clinical practice. Objective: In this short report, we describe our institution’s four-year initial experience in using DCB angioplasty, and compare the characteristics and outcomes of the patients treated with DCB with those treated with drug-eluting stent (DES) for ISR. Methods: This is a single-center retrospective study of patients who underwent coronary angioplasty with either DCB or DES from January 1, 2018 to November 30, 2021 at the Heart Hospital in the State of Qatar. Results: A total of 572 patients with ISR were recruited, 132 and 440 patients were in the DCB and DES group, respectively. In the DCB group, the median age was 57.9 years and there were 117 (88.6%). There was no significant difference between the DCB and DES groups in term demographics, comorbidities, coronary angiography indication or characteristics, and clinical outcomes. With regards the clinical outcomes, 13 patients (9.8%) underwent angioplasty for ACS and chest pain in the DCB group. The median time to the first event was a median of 480 days (16 months). Conclusion: The use of DCB is increasing in Qatar. The initial experience was limited to its use in ISR. Patient characteristics, angiographic characteristics, and clinical outcomes in the DCB group did not significantly differ from those in the DES group. More studies are needed to evaluate the use of DCB in wider indications.