Coated balloons versus drug stents for heart artery branch blockages
Compares drug-coated balloons with drug-releasing stents in adults with coronary artery disease at a split.
Plain-language title generated from the registry record
Registry title: DCB vs. DES in Bifurcation Coronary Lesions
Key facts
- Where
- Gdansk, Katowice, Krakow, Lubin, Lublin, Poznan, Rzeszów, Wałbrzych, Warsaw, Wroclaw, and Zabrze, PolandSee the 13 sites
AI summary: who the study is looking for
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for adults with a narrowing (stenosis) at a fork in a heart artery (a bifurcation lesion) who need a stent or balloon procedure (PCI) to open it.
- Age
- 18 years or older.
- Sex
- All sexes can join.
- Disease stage
- Native bifurcation lesion, not in the left main artery, with at least 50% narrowing. Silent ischemia, stable or unstable angina, or a heart attack older than 1 week. Side branch lesion shorter than 25 mm.
Main reasons for not taking part
- Heart attack with ST elevation (STEMI) within 3 days of chest pain
- Pregnant or nursing
- Other serious illness that may shorten life to less than 12 months
- In-stent restenosis or chronic total occlusion
- Left ventricular ejection fraction below 30%
Read by machine on 9 November 2026.
Where in Poland
- First Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, PolandGdansk, PolandNot yet recruiting
- Department of Cardiology and Structural Heart Diseases, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, PolandKatowice, PolandNot yet recruiting
- Department of Interventional Cardiology, Institute of Cardiology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, PolandKrakow, PolandNot yet recruiting
- Second Department of Cardiology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, PolandKrakow, PolandNot yet recruiting
- Department of Cardiology, Copper Health Centre (MCZ)Lubin, PolandNot yet recruiting
- Clinical Department of Interventional Cardiology, Medical University of LublinLublin, PolandNot yet recruiting
- Department of Cardiology, Poznan University of Medical SciencesPoznan, PolandNot yet recruiting
- Department of Cardiology, The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration Hospital, RzeszowRzeszów, PolandNot yet recruiting
- Department of CardiologyWałbrzych, PolandNot yet recruiting
- Department of Cardiology and Internal Diseases, Military Institute of MedicineWarsaw, PolandNot yet recruiting
- Department of Invasive Cardiology, Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education, Central Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Interior and AdministrationWarsaw, PolandNot yet recruiting
- Centre for Heart Disease, University Hospital Wroclaw Department of Heart Disease, Wroclaw Medical UniversityWroclaw, PolandNot yet recruiting
- Third Department of Cardiology, Medical University of KatowiceZabrze, PolandNot yet recruiting
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Trial details
- Who runs it
- Fondazione Ricerca e Innovazione Cardiovascolare ETS
- Trial code
- NCT06551662
- Record updated
- 4 December 2025
- Original description
This is an investigator-driven prospective, multicentric, international, randomized clinical study, in an open-label randomized fashion, where patients with bifurcation coronary artery disease (Medina: 111,101,011,001) in vessels with diameter >2.0 (visual estimation) and with a clinical indication to PCI, will be enrolled. After successful predilatation (with any tool deemed useful), patients will be randomized 1:1:1 to SCB, PCB or standard treatment with DES for bifurcation native vessel disease. All patients with a clinical indication for PCI, both stable coronary artery disease and acute coronary syndrome, will be enrolled.Read full original descriptionShow less
Drug-coated Balloons vs. Drug Eluting Stents in Bifurcation Coronary Lesions: PICCOLETO V Study
This is an investigator-driven prospective, multicentric, international, randomized clinical study, in an open-label randomized fashion, where patients with bifurcation coronary artery disease (Medina: 111,101,011,001) in vessels with diameter >2.0 (visual estimation) and with a clinical indication to PCI, will be enrolled. After successful predilatation (with any tool deemed useful), patients will be randomized 1:1:1 to SCB, PCB or standard treatment with DES for bifurcation native vessel disease. All patients with a clinical indication for PCI, both stable coronary artery disease and acute coronary syndrome, will be enrolled.
Before participating all the candidates will be clearly informed about the study, including the possible risks and benefits, and will be asked to provide a written informed consent. Subjects will be instructed that may not meet the general criteria for inclusion or the angiographic criteria, or that may have at least one exclusion criteria, and then be excluded from the study (screening failure), even after informed consent is obtained.
Consecutive patients who meet at least one of the inclusion criteria and none of the exclusion criteria, will participate to the study. After randomization, the procedure will consist in standard coronary angioplasty following international guidelines/consensus documents and as per local practice. If the patient has been randomized to SCB or PCB, it is mandatory to adequately prepare the lesion.
Inclusion: Subject must be age ≥18 years; Subject has silent ischemia, or stable/unstable angina, or acute MI older than 1-week from the onset of chest pain to admission; Subject understands the trial design and treatment procedures and provides written informal consent before entering the trial; Subject is willing to comply with all protocol-required follow-up evaluations; Target lesion must be native non-LM bifurcation lesion; Target lesion must be a bifurcation lesion on coronary angiography (defined as Medina 0,1,1, Medina 1,0,1, Medina 1,1,1 or Medina 0,0,1 coronary bifurcation lesions) and is eligible for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI); Target lesion reference vessel diameter (both main vessel and side branch); 2.0 mm by visual estimation; Target lesion must have visually estimated stenosis ≥50%; Target lesion length of side branch must be <25 mm by visual estimation.
Exclusion: Patient has known allergy to the study balloon/stent system; Patient has any other serious medical illness that may reduce life expectancy to less than 12 months; Left ventricular ejection fraction <30%; Patient with STEMI (within 3 days from the onset of chest pain to coronarography); Patient is pregnant or nursing; Patient is participating in another clinical trial that has not reached its primary endpoint within 24 months after the index procedure; Patient has a planned procedure that may cause non-compliance with the protocol or confound data interpretation; In-stent restenosis lesion; Chronic total occlusion (CTO) lesion in either main vessel or side branch; Visible and untreatable thrombus at lesion site; Target lesion/vessel with any of the following characteristics:; Severe and/or >270° calcification of the target vessel, also proximal to the lesion (intravascular imaging); Bifurcation lesion where stent strategy is anticipated; Left main stem stenosis >50%; Target lesion is in the left main stem; Lesions length >50 mm (main vessel); Lesions length >25 mm (side branch).