P6026Diagnostic concordance and clinical outcomes in patients undergoing fractional flow reserve and stress echocardiography for the assessment of coronary stenosis of intermediate severity

Abstract Background Vasospastic angina (VSA), which is one of the important functional cardiac disorders, may also play a role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Conversely, organic coronary stenosis is also known as an independent predictor for poor clinical outcomes in VSA patients. Although VSA patients have a variable degree of organic coronary stenosis in clinical setting, the functional importance of organic stenosis in those patients remains to be elucidated. Purpose The aim of this study was to examine the clinical importance and prognostic impact of fractional flow reserve (FFR) in patients with VSA and organic coronary stenosis. Methods We enrolled 236 consecutive patients with suspected vasospastic angina who underwent acetylcholine provocation test for coronary spasm (M/F 148/88, 63.6±12.0 [SD] yrs.). Among them, 175 patients (74.1%) were diagnosed as having VSA, while the remaining non-VSA patients were regarded as controls (Group-C, n=61). We divided the VSA patients into 3 groups based on angiographical findings and FFR values; VSA with no organic stenosis (>50% luminal stenosis) (Group-N, n=110), organic stenosis and high FFR (≥0.80) (Group-H, FFR 0.87±0.05, n=36), and organic stenosis and low FFR (<0.80) (Group-L, FFR 0.71±0.07, n=29). We evaluated the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), including cardiovascular death (CVD), non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), urgent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and hospitalization due to unstable angina pectoris (UAP) during the median follow-up period of 656 days. Results The groups with organic stenosis (Groups H and L) were characterized by higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus (Group-C/N/H/L, 23.0/20.9/44.4/34.5%, P=0.03) and dyslipidemia (Group-C/N/H/L, 37.7/39.1/50.0/65.5%, P=0.03) as compared with Group-C. After provocation test, all VSA patients received calcium channel blockers (CCBs). In addition, 20 days (median) after provocation test, 26 patients (92.9%) in Group-L underwent elective PCI with coronary stents, while no patient underwent PCI in Groups N or H. The incidence of MACE during follow-up was significantly higher in Group-L (Group-C/N/H/L; 1.6/3.6/5.6/27.6%, log-rank P<0.001), whereas clinical outcomes were comparable among the remaining 3 groups (Figure). Importantly, all 8 patients with MACE in Group-L had poor outcomes (CVD/MI/urgent PCI/UAP; 2/1/3/2) despite complete revascularization and the prevention of coronary spasm with CCBs, indicating that they might be resistant to standard contemporary therapies. They were characterized by less frequent use of angiotensin convert enzyme inhibitor (0 vs. 47.6%, P=0.02) and higher prevalence of multi-vessel organic lesions (37.5 vs. 4.8%, P=0.052) compared with those without MACE. Figure 1 Conclusions These results provide the first evidence that evaluation of coronary functional abnormalities with FFR is useful for making therapeutic strategies in VSA patients with organic coronary stenosis.

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Abstract 2688: Can Stress Echocardiography With Tissue Characterization Evaluate Noncritical Coronary Stenosis? A Validation Study Against Simultaneous Measurement of Fractional Flow Reserve

Circulation ◽

10.1161/circ.116.suppl_16.ii_596 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 116 (suppl_16) ◽

Author(s):

Tudor Poerner ◽

Sisi Vilardi ◽

Björn Goebel ◽

Hans R Figulla ◽

Tim Süselbeck

Keyword(s):

Myocardial Ischemia ◽

Strain Rate ◽

Fractional Flow Reserve ◽

Coronary Stenosis ◽

Stress Echocardiography ◽

Tissue Characterization ◽

Fractional Flow ◽

Balloon Inflation ◽

Exercise Tests ◽

Flow Reserve

Aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of different echocardiographic modalities to detect myocardial ischemia due to non-critical coronary stenosis, compared to the fractional flow reserve (FFR) as gold standard. Material and Methods: We investigated 22 consecutive patients presenting with stable angina, negative exercise tests and coronary 1-vessel disease with 50–75% diameter stenosis. TDE/SRI was performed at baseline and at peak hyperemia during 0.14 mg/kg/min adenosine infusion simultaneously with intracoronary FFR measurements. Angioplasty was carried out if FFR < 0.75, repeating TDE/SRI during first balloon inflation. Visual wall motion score, peak systolic values for myocardial velocity (Vs), strain rate (SRs), strain (Ss) and peak overall strain (Smax) were determined in the region of interest. Postsystolic shortening (PSS), accepted as typical marker of acute myocardial ischemia, was defined as (Smax-Ss)/Smax > 0.3, with reduced Ss < 15%. Results: Pathologic FFR < 0.75 was found in 11 patients (Table 1 ), who underwent angioplasty. Myocardial contractility reflected by SRs increased during hyperemia only in the patient group with FFR > 0.75 and decreased markedly during balloon inflation. Hyperemic SRs variation correlated with FFR (r = 0.5, p = 0.018) and predicted significantly pathologic FFR with an area under ROC curve of 0.86 (p <0.01). PSS was identified in 10 of 11 patients during vessel occlusion, but had a low sensitivity (2 of 11 patients with FFR < 0.75) for the more subtle changes during hyperemia. Conclusion: Functional assessment of moderate-to-severe coronary stenosis remains a diagnostic challenge. PSS occurrence cannot serve as a reliable noninvasive alternative to FFR. However, the blunted hyperemic variation of systolic strain rate was able to predict a pathologic FFR, even in this small group of patients. Therefore, TDE/SRI emerges as a promising tool to enhance the diagnostic accuracy of adenosine stress echocardiography. Table 1

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