Imaging and Physiology for Intermediate Left Main Stem Stenosis

Description

Accurate characterization of the functional significance of intermediate stenoses located in the left main coronary artery (LMCA) is of central relevance for decisions about the need of myocardial revascularization. However, the physiological assessment of such lesions by means of fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurements are affected by stenoses in the downstream vessels (left anterior descending artery and/or left circumflex artery), which frequently coexist in series with LMCA lesions. More recently introduced, the instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) is a resting index that is less influenced by crosstalk between serial lesions and, in theory, could be more accurate for assessment of LMCA stenoses in the presence of downstream disease. Nonetheless, iFR has not been validated for assessment of LMCA lesions. Due to the difficulty in interpreting FFR results, the possibility of characterizing the atheroma type, precisely estimate lesion severity and disease extension and distribution, intravascular imaging [especially intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)] became an attractive alternative to assess LMCA lesions and guide the percutaneous treatment, whenever this strategy is selected. However, most IVUS validations for LMCA stenosis assessment used FFR as the standard comparator, which by itself has limited diagnostic ability in this anatomic scenario.

Thus, the main objective of the current research project is to determine the impact of stenoses in downstream vessels on FFR and iFR measurements of LMCA stenoses of intermediate severity as determined by coronary angiography. The primary endpoint is the change (delta) in FFR and iFR values prior and after percutaneous treatment of downstream stenoses. Assuming a change of 0.04 mmHg between the FFRpredicted and FFRtrue with a standard deviation of 0.04 mmHg, and a change of 0.01 mmHg between iFRpredicted and iFRtrue with a standard deviation of 0.03 mmHg, a total of 53 patients are needed to confirm the mean difference of 0.03 mmHg between iFR and FFR changes before and after treatment of downstream stenoses. Anatomic metrics derived from intravascular imaging modalities of IVUS and optical coherence tomography (OCT) will also be validated using as the comparator the FFRtrue and iFRtrue measurements.

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