Evaluation of safety and efficacy of rapamycin-eluting balloon in patients with intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis: a cohort study

OBJECTIVE: The safety and efficacy of drug-eluting balloon on the treatment of intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ICAS) remain unclear. Here, we present our observation in a cohort study on the safety and efficacy of rapamycin-eluting balloon for patients with ICAS. METHODS: A total of 80 ICAS patients with stenosis degree of 70–99% were included. All patients were treated with rapamycin-eluting balloon and were followed up for 12 months after operation. RESULTS: All patients were successfully treated, where the mean stenosis severity reduced from 85.1 ± 7.6 to 6 ± 4.9%. 8 patients experienced immediate post-operational complications. Two patients passed away during the first month of the follow-up period. Recurrent ischemic syndrome and angiographic restenosis only appeared 7 days after operation. During later follow-up period, none of the patients had clinical angiographic restenosis or needed target vessel revascularization. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that intracranial stenting with rapamycin-eluting balloon seems to be safe and effective, although more clinical data are needed to support this notion.