Drug-coated balloons match stents for preventing heart attacks, study finds

A review of 10 randomized clinical trials with 7,832 patients concluded that drug-coated balloons achieve results similar to drug-eluting stents in preventing cardiovascular deaths and heart attacks in patients with coronary artery disease. The study, led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the United Kingdom, was published on October 15, 2026 in the journal eClinicalMedicine from The Lancet.

The key difference lies in what is left in the artery. Stents are small metal meshes that remain permanently, while the coated balloon releases the drug into the vessel wall and is then removed, a strategy the authors describe as leaving nothing behind. For Mexico the finding carries direct weight: heart disease was the leading cause of death in the country in 2024, with 192,518 deaths, according to INEGI data reported on November 10, 2025 by Milenio.

According to the University of East Anglia press release, lead researcher Natasha Corballis, from Norwich Medical School, noted that stents are today the standard treatment and that balloons offer an alternative. In the pooled results there was no significant difference in cardiovascular death or heart attack, even when excluding trials focused only on small arteries.

The nuance comes in larger vessels. When excluding those trials, patients treated with a balloon were more likely to need a second procedure, with an odds ratio of 1.84, although the authors indicate that the figure rests mainly on a single trial and call for caution. Lead author Vassilios Vassiliou said the approach may reduce some long-term complications associated with stents and preserve future treatment options.

The journal eClinicalMedicine brings together 10 trials with follow-up of 12 to 60 months and received no funding. The authors warn that a uniform effect should not be assumed across the different balloon models.

With a disease that exceeds 190,000 deaths a year in Mexico, the clinical decision between leaving an implant or removing it takes on weight. It remains to be seen whether the UEA group extends the analysis to larger vessels and complex lesions, where the authors call for larger studies.

This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.