A Single-Center, Retrospective, Propensity-Score-Matched Cohort Study Comparing Drug-Coated Balloon Versus Drug-Eluting Stent for Reducing Immediate Post-Procedural Slow-Flow/No-Reflow in Acute ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction Patients With High Thrombus Burden (STEMI-DCB)

September 3, 2026 updated by: Yuan He, MD, Xijing Hospital

Comparison Of Drug-Coated Balloon Versus Drug-Eluting Stent In STEMI Patients With High Thrombus Burden: A Single-Center Retrospective Study Using Propensity Score Matching

This is a single-center, retrospective, propensity-score-matched observational study. It aims to compare the rate of immediate slow-flow or no-reflow after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between drug-coated balloon (DCB) and drug-eluting stent (DES) in STEMI patients with high thrombus burden. Medical records of eligible patients admitted between January 1, 2019 and June 30, 2025 will be reviewed. Propensity-score matching will be used to balance baseline characteristics of the two groups. Both procedural-related outcomes and 1-year clinical follow-up events will be analyzed.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
668

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • China
    • Shaanxi
      • Xi'an, Shaanxi, China, 710032
        • Recruiting
        • First Affiliated Hospital of Fourth Military Medical University
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

This is a single-center retrospective observational study. The study population consists of patients diagnosed with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) with high thrombus burden (angiographic thrombus grade G2-G4) who underwent emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) at Xijing Hospital between January 1, 2019 and June 30, 2025. Eligible patients received either drug-coated balloon (DCB) or drug-eluting stent (DES) as the final revascularization strategy for the culprit vessel. Patients are identified from in-hospital medical records and coronary angiographic databases.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients diagnosed with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) at this center:

    • Symptom onset ≤ 12 hours; OR
    • Symptom onset > 12 hours with persistent ischemic symptoms.
  2. Angiographic thrombus grade of the culprit vessel is G2-G4.
  3. Reference vessel diameter of the culprit vessel: 2.25-4.0 mm.
  4. Complete pre-procedural and post-procedural coronary angiographic imaging data are available.
  5. Age ≥ 18 years old.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Participation in other clinical trials.
  2. Cardiogenic shock or post-cardiac-arrest resuscitation state.
  3. Multi-vessel coronary artery disease.
  4. Severe calcified lesions requiring rotational atherectomy or shock-wave therapy.
  5. Only compliant or non-compliant plain balloon dilation performed.
  6. Both DES and DCB applied to the same culprit vessel.
  7. Culprit lesion located in a coronary bypass graft, or in-stent restenosis / in-stent thrombosis.
  8. Missing key angiographic or clinical follow-up data.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Drug-Coated Balloon (DCB) Cohort
STEMI patients with high thrombus burden who received drug-coated balloon (DCB) as the final revascularization strategy for culprit coronary vessel
Device: Drug-Coated Balloon (DCB)
A drug-coated balloon catheter used for percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with STEMI and high thrombus burden. The balloon surface is coated with an antiproliferative drug (e.g., paclitaxel) that is transferred to the vessel wall during balloon inflation, inhibiting neointimal hyperplasia. No permanent metal scaffold is implanted after DCB-only revascularization.
Drug-Eluting Stent (DES) Cohort
STEMI patients with high thrombus burden who received drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation as the final revascularization strategy for culprit coronary vessel, including bailout DES implantation after DCB.
Device: Drug-Eluting Stent (DES)
A permanent coronary metal scaffold coated with an antiproliferative drug (e.g., sirolimus, everolimus, zotarolimus, or biolimus) implanted during percutaneous coronary intervention. The stent maintains vessel patency and the eluted drug inhibits neointimal hyperplasia. Used for culprit-vessel revascularization in STEMI patients with high thrombus burden, including bailout DES implantation after DCB predilation.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Incidence of immediate slow-flow or no-reflow after PCI
Time Frame: Immediately after the index emergency PCI procedure
The incidence of immediate slow-flow or no-reflow phenomenon after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with either drug-coated balloon (DCB) or drug-eluting stent (DES). Slow-flow/no-reflow is defined as TIMI flow grade ≤2 after the procedure in the absence of mechanical obstruction, dissection, or severe spasm.
Immediately after the index emergency PCI procedure

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Patient-oriented Composite Endpoint (PoCE) at 1-year follow-up
Time Frame: 1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Composite endpoint of all-cause death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, stroke, and any revascularization within 1-year after index emergency PCI.
1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Incidence of Patient-oriented Composite Endpoint (PoCE) at 1-year follow-up
Time Frame: 1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
The overall incidence of Patient-oriented Composite Endpoint (PoCE) within 1-year after index emergency PCI. PoCE is defined as a composite of all-cause death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, stroke, and any revascularization. This endpoint is assessed through in-hospital medical records, outpatient follow-up records, and telephone follow-up data.
1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Individual components of PoCE at 1-year follow-up
Time Frame: 1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Incidence of each separate component event of PoCE: all-cause death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, stroke, any revascularization. This endpoint is assessed through in-hospital medical records, outpatient follow-up records, and telephone follow-up data.
1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Device-oriented Composite Endpoint (DoCE) at 1-year follow-up
Time Frame: 1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Composite of cardiac death, target-vessel myocardial infarction (TV-MI), and clinically-driven target-lesion revascularization (CI-TLR) within 1-year after index emergency PCI.
1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Individual components of DoCE at 1-year follow-up
Time Frame: 1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Incidence of each separate component event of DoCE: cardiac death, target-vessel myocardial infarction (TV-MI), clinically-driven target-lesion revascularization (CI-TLR).
1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Target Vessel Failure (TVF) at 1-year follow-up
Time Frame: 1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Composite of cardiac death, target-vessel myocardial infarction, and clinically-driven target-vessel revascularization within 1-year after index emergency PCI.
1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Clinically-driven target-vessel revascularization at 1-year follow-up
Time Frame: 1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Revascularization of target vessel triggered by clinical symptoms or myocardial ischemia evidence within 1-year after index emergency PCI.
1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Net Adverse Clinical Events (NACE) at 1-year follow-up
Time Frame: 1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Composite of PoCE plus BARC-defined type 3 or 5 bleeding events within 1-year after index emergency PCI.
1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
BARC type 3 or 5 bleeding events at 1-year follow-up
Time Frame: 1 year after index emergency PCI procedure
Bleeding events meeting BARC (Bleeding Academic Research Consortium) type 3 or type 5 criteria within 1-year after index emergency PCI.
1 year after index emergency PCI procedure

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Xijing Hospital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
January 1, 2019

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
June 30, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
January 31, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
September 1, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 3, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
September 8, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
September 8, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 3, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • KY20262334-C-1

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Individual-level patient data will not be shared due to patient privacy protection requirements and local hospital data management regulations. This is a single-center retrospective study based on historical medical records. No formal data sharing mechanism has been established. Aggregated study results may be published in peer-reviewed journals.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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