Drug-Coated Balloon Versus Drug-Eluting Stent in Patient With ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is a life-threatening emergency requiring immediate intervention. The incidence of premature coronary artery disease (PCAD) is rising rapidly in China; its long-term prognosis remains poor and it frequently progresses to acute myocardial infarction, necessitating high-risk therapies such as primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting, thereby imposing enormous economic and psychological burdens on patients and their families. Moreover, the cumulative 6-year rate of death or myocardial infarction after implantation of the latest-generation drug-eluting stents still reaches 15%, and management of stent failure is extremely challenging. Drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty-representing the "leave-nothing-behind" paradigm-is a highly promising option in young subjects. Accumulating clinical evidence demonstrates that DCB provides favorable efficacy across a broad spectrum of lesions, including small-vessel and large-vessel de novo disease, bifurcation lesions, and in-stent restenosis. Nevertheless, high-quality data on the impact of DCB angioplasty in de novo large-vessel disease and in the setting of acute STEMI are still lacking.