Comparison of the Efficacy of Paclitaxel-Eluting Balloon Catheters and Everolimus-Eluting Stents in the Treatment of Coronary In-Stent Restenosis The Treatment of In-Stent Restenosis Study

Background-The aim of this prospective randomized noninferiority study was to compare the efficacy of paclitaxel-eluting balloon (PEB) catheters and everolimus-eluting stents (EES) in the treatment of bare metal stent restenosis. Methods and Results-A total of 136 patients were enrolled in the study. Each treatment group included 68 patients with 74 in-stent restenotic lesions. The primary end point was in-segment late lumen loss (LLL) at 12 months. Secondary end points were the incidence of binary in-stent restenosis and 12-month major adverse cardiac events. The 2-sided 95% confidence interval of LLL difference between treatments (0.149-0.558) was greater than noninferiority margin (0.12), which demonstrates both noninferiority and superiority of PEB treatment. Furthermore, the PEB group had significantly less 12-month LLL than the EES group (0.02 versus 0.19 mm; P=0.0004). The difference in the incidence of repeated binary restenosis (8.7% versus 19.12%; P=0.078) and 12-month major adverse cardiac events (10.29% versus 19.12%; P=0.213) was not significant. The 12-month LLL was significantly less in the PEB group and also in subgroups with in-stent restenosis >10 mm (0.05 versus 0.26 mm; P=0.0002) and artery diameter <3 mm (0.05 versus 0.16 mm; P=0.003) compared with the EES groups, but not in the subgroup of patients with diabetes mellitus (P=0.254). In the EES group, repetitive binary restenosis had a significantly greater chance of occurring (odds ratio=3.132; 95% confidence interval, 1.058-9.269; P=0.039), even when adjusting for other risk factors. Conclusions-Treatment of bare metal stent restenosis using PEB led to significantly less 12-month LLL than the implantation of second-generation EES.