The role of fractional flow reserve in pre-operative coronary angiography in redefining functional syntax score and cardiac risk in multivessel coronary artery disease

Background: In diabetic patients with multivessel coronary artery disease, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has shown long-term benefits over percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Physiology-guided PCI has shown to improve clinical outcomes in multivessel coronary artery disease, though its impact in diabetic patients has never been investigated. We evaluated long-term clinical outcomes of diabetic patients with multivessel coronary artery disease treated with fractional flow reserve (FFR)–guided PCI compared with CABG. Methods: From 2010 to 2018, 4622 diabetic patients undergoing coronary angiography were screened for inclusion. The inclusion criterion was the presence of at least 2-vessel disease defined as with diameter stenosis ≥50%, in which at least 1 intermediate stenosis (diameter stenosis, 30%–70%) was treated or deferred according to FFR. Inverse probability of treatment weighting analysis was used to account for baseline differences with a contemporary cohort of patients treated with CABG. The primary end point was major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, defined as all-cause death, myocardial infarction, revascularization, or stroke. Results: A total of 418 patients were included in the analysis. Among them, 209 patients underwent CABG and 209 FFR-guided PCI. At 5 years, the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events was higher in the FFR-guided PCI versus the CABG group (44.5% versus 31.9%; hazard ratio, 1.60 [95% CI, 1.15–2.22]; P =0.005). No difference was found in the composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (28.8% versus 27.5%; hazard ratio, 1.05 [95% CI, 0.72–1.53]; P =0.81). Repeat revascularization was more frequent with FFR-guided PCI (24.9% versus 8.2%; hazard ratio, 3.51 [95% CI, 1.93–6.40]; P <0.001). Conclusions: In diabetic patients with multivessel coronary artery disease, CABG was associated with a lower rate of major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events compared with FFR-guided PCI, driven by a higher rate of repeat revascularization. At 5-year follow-up, no difference was observed in the composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction, or stroke between CABG and FFR-guided PCI. Graphic Abstract: A graphic abstract is available for this article.

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A novel index reflecting both anatomical and physiologic parameters in coronary artery disease, the FFR adjusted SYNTAX score (FaSs)

European Heart Journal ◽

10.1093/eurheartj/ehab724.1145 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 42 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

S H Park ◽

J Kang ◽

D Hwang ◽

J Zhang ◽

J K Han ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Coronary Artery Disease ◽

Coronary Artery ◽

Predictive Value ◽

Cox Regression ◽

Syntax Score ◽

Fractional Flow ◽

Flow Reserve ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Physiologic Parameters ◽

Artery Disease

Abstract Background Various physiology-based indices have been proposed to predict adverse clinical events in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), such as the sum of three vessel-fractional flow reserve (3v-FFR), and the functional SYNTAX score (fSS). However, these values could not fully reflect the anatomical factors, which remains as a barrier for clinical application of these indices. Purpose To propose a novel index which can reflect both anatomical and physiologic features in CAD patients, and evaluate the additional predictive value for cardiovascular adverse events compared to previous indices. Methods For an index which can reflect both anatomical and physiologic features, we proposed the FFR adjusted SYNTAX score (FaSs). The FaSs is calculated by adding the product of the SYNTAX score and `1-FFR', for all three major coronary arteries. Among the 1136 patients who enrolled at 3V FFR-FRIENDS study, we investigated 866 patients, after excluding those who had missing variables. The 3v-FFR, fSS and FaSs were calculated, derived from the baseline FFR and SYNTAX score. Patients were divided into two groups according to the median value of each index. The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiac events (MACE, a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction and ischemia-driven revascularization) at 2 years follow-up. Results Among the total population, MACE occurred in 35 (4.04%) patients. Using the median value in a multivariable COX regression model, only FaSs was associated with an increased risk of MACE, (Hazard Ratio [HR] 5.256, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.014–13.720), while 3v-FFR (HR 1.383, 95% CI 0.685–2.790) and fSS (HR 1.640, 95% CI 0.830–3.243) were not significantly associated with a higher risk of MACE. This was also observed in the Kaplan Meier survival curve analysis (log-rank p value: p<0.001 for FaSs, 0.153 for 3v-FFR, and 0.061 for fSS; Figure 1) The sensitivity and specificity of the FaSs was 85.7% and 51.6%, which was higher compared to the 3v-FFR (62.9% and 49.3%, respectively) and fSS (57.1% and 58.5%, respectively). When these indices were combined with clinical risk factors (age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, chronic renal failure, LVEF<40%), FaSs was superior compared with 3v-FFR and fSS assessed in regards of the predictive accuracy for MACE (Figure 2). Conclusion The FaSs, which is a novel index calculated by a formula using the SYNTAX score and FFR, showed a superior predictive value for MACE compared to previous indices. Our results confirm the importance of considering both anatomical and physiologic parameters in evaluating the patient's risk for cardiovascular adverse outcomes. FUNDunding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.

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