The paclitaxel drug-coated balloon (DCB) is an emerging device in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI); it allows a rapid local release of an anti-restenotic drug without the use of a durable polymer or metal scaffold. The DCB has been proven to be effective with paclitaxel in preclinical trials and in clinical practice for the treatment of coronary lesions such as in-stent restenosis (ISR), de novo and bifurcation lesions. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an intravascular imaging modality that has higher resolution than intravascular ultrasound. Excellent contrast among lumen, vessel, and stent in OCT images allows accurate measurement of lumen and lesion. However, only a few studies have investigated the effect of DCB on the intimal lumen in the acute phase and during the follow-up using optical coherence tomography (OCT). In this study, the investigators preformed OCT before and after DCB treatment, as well as at 6 months of follow-up, to assess the tissue characterization.~Demographic, angiographic, and procedural data were collected. Participants were followed up with coronary angiography and OCT for at least 6-9 months, combined with OCT to analyze qualitative analysis of changes in plaque characterization, and late lumen loss. The participants were followed up for long-term clinical events (including cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, and clinically driven target lesion revascularization).
In this study, the investigators preformed OCT before and after DCB treatment, as well as at 6 months of follow-up, to assess the tissue characterization. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between quantitative and qualitative OCT findings, angiographic and clinical outcomes after PCB for coronary lesions.