A prospective observational cohort compared a drug-coated balloon strategy with drug-eluting stenting in 161 patients with new isolated side-branch bifurcation lesions, allocation resting on operator judgement after lesion preparation. At one year, late lumen loss was 0.16 mm with the balloon against 0.48 mm with stenting, binary restenosis 7.4% against 21.3%, and target vessel revascularisation 4.9% against 15.0%. The composite adverse event rate was 7.4% against 18.7%, driven by repeat revascularisation, and allocation was largely determined by the response to predilation.
Why it is interesting: A procedural comparison in a narrow lesion subset, with repeat revascularisation rather than death as the moving endpoint.