Effectiveness of the repeated 3-time-balloon-inflation method in reducing coronary stent edge dissection

The optimal procedural protocol for coronary stent deployment remains undetermined. Post-dilation with a high-pressure balloon is often performed to optimize the stent expansion. However, high-pressure dilation also carries the potential risk of coronary artery injury. A previous in vitro study reported that multiple-times balloon inflation at the same pressure resulted in better stent expansion compared to one-time balloon inflation. In our facility, we frequently perform the repeated 3-time-balloon-inflation method, wherein the stent delivery balloon was inflated 3 times at nominal pressure to deploy the stent, to improve stent expansion without high-pressure balloon inflation. Although this method seems effective in avoiding excessive high-pressure dilation, its clinical data are insufficient. In this study, we investigated the clinical outcomes of the repeated 3-time-balloon-inflation method. This retrospective study included 370 patients with 467 stented coronary lesions. These subjects were divided into two groups: one with standard balloon inflation and the other with repeated 3-time balloon inflation, and treatment outcomes were compared. The repeated 3-time-balloon-inflation group had 254 lesions, and the standard-balloon-inflation group had 213 lesions. Stent edge dissection occurred in 6 lesions (2.8%) in the standard-balloon-inflation group, whereas did not occur in the repeated 3-time-balloon-inflation group. A statistically significant difference remained even after propensity score matching (p = 0.040). The final minimum stent area and long-term clinical outcomes were not significantly different between the two groups. The repeated 3-time-balloon-inflation method may reduce stent edge dissection while demonstrating comparable minimal stent area and long-term outcomes to the standard-balloon-inflation method.