Abstract
PURPOSE: This meta-analysis aimed to explore the comparative short-term efficacy and safety of drug-coated balloon (DCB) vs. drug-eluting stent (DES) for treating small-vessel coronary artery lesions in diabetic patients. METHODS: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and China National Knowledgement Infrastructure (CNKI) for retrieving relevant studies regarding the comparison of DCB with DES in treating small-vessel coronary artery lesions in diabetic patients until May 31, 2022. Two independent authors screened study, extracted data, and assessed methodological quality. Then, the meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan software, version 5.4. RESULTS: We included 6 studies with 847 patients in this meta-analysis. Pooled results showed that DCB was associated with fewer major adverse cardiac events (MACE) [RR, 0.60; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.39-0.93; p = 0.02], myocardial infarction (MI) (RR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.19-0.94; p = 0.03), target lesion revascularization (TLR) (RR, 0.24; 95% CI, 0.08-0.69; p < 0.001), target vessel revascularization (TVR) (RR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.18-0.63; p < 0.001), binary restenosis (RR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.11-0.68; p = 0.005), and late lumen loss (LLL) [mean difference (MD), -0.31; 95% CI, -0.36 to -0.27; p < 0.001], but was comparable technique success rate, death, minimal lumen diameter (MLD), and net lumen gain (NLG) to DES. There was no difference in long-term outcomes between these two techniques. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis shows that DCB is better than DES in the short-term therapeutic efficacy and safety of small-vessel coronary artery lesions in diabetic patients. However, more studies are required to validate our findings and investigate the long-term effects and safety of DCB.