The modified balloon crush technique: A simplified approach to optimizing final kissing balloon inflation

This study aimed to investigate the feasibility and safety of the modified balloon crush technique. The conventional crush technique accompanies difficult and suboptimal final kissing balloon inflation (FKI) In a single-center percutaneous coronary intervention registry, 515 patients with 515 bifurcation lesions were treated with the modified balloon technique (n = 70) or the conventional crush technique (n = 445). In contrast to the conventional crush technique, where the implanted side branch (SB) stent is crushed by expansion of the main branch (MB) stent, the modified balloon crush technique uses balloon crushing and additional SB ballooning across the crushed SB stent before MB stenting to facilitate FKI. The primary outcome of interest was major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE), a composite of all-cause death, spontaneous myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization. Baseline clinical and angiographic characteristics were similar between the 2 treatment groups. FKI had comparable success rates in both groups (97.1% for the modified balloon group and 98.4% for the conventional crush group; P = .35). There were no differences in procedure time, fluoroscopic time, or contrast amount between the 2 groups. At 1-year follow up, the cumulative MACE incidences were comparable between the 2 groups (7.3% vs 8.8%; P = .73). The incidence of target lesion revascularization (TLR) was significantly lower after the modified balloon crush technique compared with the conventional crush technique (0% vs 5.6%; P = .048). The modified balloon crush technique appears to be a feasible and safe alternative to the conventional crush technique with the potential to reduce the revascularization rate.