Comparison of Cardiovascular Outcomes of Double Kissing-crush vs Controlled Balloon-crush Techniques For Complex Coronary Bifurcation Lesions

The Crush technique for coronary bifurcation lesions has evolved significantly since its introduction to the literature by Colombo et al. in 2003, with several iterations, including double kissing balloon inflation. The main disadvantage of the historical Crush technique is the low success rate of the final kissing balloon inflation. An improvement came with the introduction of double kissing crush stenting aiming for the shorter protrusion and kissing balloon dilation performed before and after main branch stent implantation. The double kissing crush provides a significant reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events compared to Provisional stenting, Crush, and Culotte techniques. Recently, a novel modified mini-crush technique (controlled balloon-crush) has been introduced to the literature and is one of the most up-to-date crush techniques. The main advantage of this technique over the contemporary mini-crush technique is that the side branch can be easily rewired, and the 1:1 size non-compliant balloon can easily pass through the crushed stent structure in the ostial part of the side branch. The basic rationale of this is that the crushing of the side branch stent is done in a more controlled manner (by slowly deflation of the side branch stent balloon), and this causes less disruption of the stent cells. To date, no data compares the mid-term outcomes of double kissing crush and controlled balloon-crush stenting techniques in patients with complex coronary bifurcation lesions. Hence, this study aimed to determine the clinical results of double kissing crush and controlled balloon-crush techniques under mid-term follow-up.