Stent Coverage and Neointimal Proliferation in Bare Metal Stents Postdilated With a Paclitaxel-Eluting Balloon Versus Everolimus-Eluting Stents Prospective Randomized Study Using Optical Coherence Tomography at 6-Month Follow-Up

Background-In this randomized trial, strut coverage and neointimal proliferation of a therapy of bare metal stents (BMSs) postdilated with the paclitaxel drug-eluting balloon (DEB) was compared with everolimus drug-eluting stents (DESs) at 6-month follow-up using optical coherence tomography. We hypothesized sufficient stent coverage at follow-up. Methods and Results-A total of 105 lesions in 90 patients were treated with either XIENCE V DES (n=51) or BMS postdilated with the SeQuent Please DEB (n=54). At follow-up, comparable results on the primary optical coherence tomography end point (percentage uncovered struts 5.64+/-9.65% in BMS+DEB versus 4.93+/-9.29% in DES; P=0.366) were found. Thus, BMS+DEB achieved the prespecified noninferiority margin of 5% uncovered struts versus DES (difference between treatment means, 0.71%; one-sided upper 95% confidence interval, 4.14%; noninferiority P=0.04). Optical coherence tomography analysis showed significantly more global neointimal proliferation in the BMS+DEB group (15.7+/-7.8 versus 11.0+/-5.2 mm(3) proliferation volume/cm stent length; P=0.002). No significant focal in-stent stenosis analyzed with angiography (percentage diameter stenosis at follow-up, 22.8+/-11.9 versus 16.9+/-10.4; P=0.014) and optical coherence tomography (peak local area stenosis, 39.5+/-13.8% versus 36.8+/-15.6%; P=0.409) was found. Conclusions-Good stent strut coverage of >94% was found in both therapy groups. Despite greater suppression of global neointimal growth in DES, both DES and BMS+DEB effectively prevented clinically relevant focal restenosis at 6-month follow-up.