Temporal trends in the use of drug-coated balloons in Poland - an analysis based on the national registry

Cardiol J. 2025 Nov 5. doi: 10.5603/cj.103075. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: There has been increasing interest in drug-coated balloons (DCB) within the scientific and medical community in recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the temporal trends of DCB utilization stratified by the type of target lesion, based on a large prospective national registry.

METHODS: The data for conducting the current analysis were obtained from the National Registry of Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (ORPKI, Ogólnopolski Rejestr Procedur Kardiologii Inwazyjnej), maintained in cooperation with the Association of Cardiovascular Interventions (AISN, Asocjacja Interwencji Sercowo-Naczyniowych) of the Polish Cardiac Society. The study covered data collected between January 2014 and December 2022. During this period, there were 170 active catheterization laboratories in which 899,635 percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures were performed. Among them, 5827 (0.65%) patients were treated with DCB and drug-eluting stents, 11,649 (1.29%) were treated with DCB only, and 882,159 (98.06%) were treated without DCB.

RESULTS: The frequency of DCB use during PCI increased across all main angiographic indications as follows: from 0.54% in 2014 to 1.02% in 2022 (p < 0.001) for de novo lesions, from 15.31% in 2014 to 33.95% in 2022 (p < 0.001) for in-stent restenosis, and from 2.41% in 2014 to 5.29% in 2022 (p < 0.001) for in-stent thrombosis. Similarly, there was a statistically significant increase in the frequency of DCB use among the following selected clinical presentations: acute heart failure (p = 0.037), cardiac arrest (p = 0.015), non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (p < 0.001), chronic coronary syndromes (p < 0.001), and unstable angina (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of DCB use has been constantly increasing in recent years, regardless of angiographic indications and across different clinical scenarios.

PMID:41191008 | DOI:10.5603/cj.103075