Ischemic Heart Disease: Noninvasive Imaging Techniques and Findings

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Abstract

Ischemic heart disease is a leading cause of death worldwide and comprises a large proportion of annual health care expenditure. Management of ischemic heart disease is now best guided by the physiologic significance of coronary artery stenosis. Invasive coronary angiography is the standard for diagnosing coronary artery stenosis. However, it is expensive and has risks including vascular access site complications and contrast material–induced nephropathy. Invasive coronary angiography requires fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurement to determine the physiologic significance of a coronary artery stenosis. Multiple noninvasive cardiac imaging modalities can also anatomically delineate or functionally assess for significant coronary artery stenosis, as well as detect the presence of myocardial infarction (MI). While coronary CT angiography can help assess the degree of anatomic stenosis, its inability to assess the physiologic significance of lesions limits its specificity. Physiologic significance of coronary artery stenosis can be determined by cardiac MR vasodilator or dobutamine stress imaging, CT stress perfusion imaging, FFR CT, PET myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), SPECT MPI, and stress echocardiography. Clinically unrecognized MI, another clear indicator of physiologically significant coronary artery disease, is relatively common and is best evaluated with cardiac MRI. The authors illustrate the spectrum of imaging findings of ischemic heart disease (coronary artery disease, myocardial ischemia, and MI); highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the various noninvasive imaging methods used to assess ischemic heart disease, as illustrated by recent clinical trials; and summarize current indications and contraindications for noninvasive imaging techniques for detection of ischemic heart disease.

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In patients with multivessel coronary artery disease who are undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), coronary angiography is the standard method for guiding the placement of the stent. It is unclear whether routine measurement of fractional flow reserve (FFR; the ratio of maximal blood flow in a stenotic artery to normal maximal flow), in addition to angiography, improves outcomes. In 20 medical centers in the United States and Europe, we randomly assigned 1005 patients with multivessel coronary artery disease to undergo PCI with implantation of drug-eluting stents guided by angiography alone or guided by FFR measurements in addition to angiography. Before randomization, lesions requiring PCI were identified on the basis of their angiographic appearance. Patients assigned to angiography-guided PCI underwent stenting of all indicated lesions, whereas those assigned to FFR-guided PCI underwent stenting of indicated lesions only if the FFR was 0.80 or less. The primary end point was the rate of death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and repeat revascularization at 1 year. The mean (+/-SD) number of indicated lesions per patient was 2.7+/-0.9 in the angiography group and 2.8+/-1.0 in the FFR group (P=0.34). The number of stents used per patient was 2.7+/-1.2 and 1.9+/-1.3, respectively (P<0.001). The 1-year event rate was 18.3% (91 patients) in the angiography group and 13.2% (67 patients) in the FFR group (P=0.02). Seventy-eight percent of the patients in the angiography group were free from angina at 1 year, as compared with 81% of patients in the FFR group (P=0.20). Routine measurement of FFR in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease who are undergoing PCI with drug-eluting stents significantly reduces the rate of the composite end point of death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and repeat revascularization at 1 year. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00267774.) 2009 Massachusetts Medical Society

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Author and article information

Contributors

Arlene Sirajuddin:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9183-5983

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Radiographics

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Radiographics

Journal ID (publisher-id): Radiographics

Title: Radiographics

Publisher: Radiological Society of North America

ISSN (Print): 0271-5333

ISSN (Electronic): 1527-1323

Publication date (Electronic): 21 May 2021

Publication date Collection: July 2021

Publication date PMC-release: 1 July 2022

Volume: 41

Issue: 4

Pages: E990-E1021

Affiliations

[1]From the Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Branch, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, 10 Center Dr, Building 10, Room B1D416, Bethesda, MD 20814 (A.S., S.M.M., A.E.A.); Department of Radiology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, Calif (S.J.K.); Departments of Medicine and Radiology, Divisions of Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Imaging, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colo (D.W.G.); Department of Pathology (A.P.B.) and Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine (C.S.W.), School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Md; and St David’s Healthcare and Austin Heart, Austin, Tex (F.K.).