ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Endovascular and Interventional Neurology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1570728
Drug-Coated Balloon Angioplasty Versus Conventional Angioplasty for Symptomatic Nonacute Intracranial Artery Occlusion
Provisionally accepted
Kaiyue Dong
Yingkun Chen
Yun Song
Lili Sun
Meimei Zheng
Hao Yin
Jun ZhangShuoshuo LiTianxi Yin
Wei WangYao Meng
Weili Li
Xiao He
Chenlu Zhu
Wei Zhao*
Ju Han*- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
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Background and Objective: Non-acute intracranial artery occlusion (ICAO) is an important cause of recurrent ischemic stroke despite aggressive medical treatment. Conventional angioplasty has high incidences of perioperative complications and restenosis in treating these patients. Drug-coated balloon (DCB) treatment has shown superiority in preventing restenosis. This study aimed to compare the DCB angioplasty with conventional angioplasty in symptomatic ICAO patients.From January 2016 to March 2024, consecutive patients with symptomatic non-acute ICAO treated with endovascular therapy were enrolled and dichotomized by whether DCB was used. Propensity score matching analysis was used to compare the perioperative complications, clinical and imaging follow-up results of the two groups.Results: 158 eligible patients were included in this study. There were 104 cases in the DCB group and 54 cases in the non-DCB group. A total of 92 matched patients were selected for propensity score matching analysis. At 6 months follow-up, the median stenosis degree (19.3% [0% ~ 34.3%] vs 43.6% [22.8% ~ 80.2%], P = 0.009) and total restenosis incidence (10.9% [5/46] vs 39.1% [18/46], P = 0.004) were significantly lower in the DCB group. There were no statistically significant differences in the incidences of perioperative complications (8.7% vs 17.4%, P = 0.388), symptomatic restenosis (2.2% vs 8.7%, P = 0.375) and recurrent ischemic events (4.3% vs 10.9%, P = 0.453) between the two groups.In patients with symptomatic non-acute ICAO, compared with conventional angioplasty, DCB angioplasty can effectively reduce the restenosis degree and restenosis risk.
Keywords: Intracranial atherosclerotic occlusion, Drug-coated balloon, Angioplasty, restenosis, Outcome
Received: 04 Feb 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Dong, Chen, Song, Sun, Zheng, Yin, Zhang, Li, Yin, Wang, Meng, Li, He, Zhu, Zhao and Han. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Wei Zhao, Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Jinan, 250014, Shandong Province, China
Ju Han, Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Jinan, 250014, Shandong Province, China
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