[Digital thermo-coronary angiography--development and validation of the method in comparison with conventional...

We describe the technique-thermal coronary angiography (TCA)-for real-time assessment of coronary anatomy and flow. The goal of this study was to compare thermal coronary angiography to cine coronary angiography and to validate its value for detecting stenoses. We studied the exposed LAD both in beating and arrested hearts in 11 open-chest pigs by TCA and cine angiography. We used an AGA 782 Thermovision system combined with a TIC 8000 digital image processor providing coronary images with 0.1-0.2 mm spatial and 0.1 degrees C thermal resolution, and a CFR x-ray system. The coronary arteries were catheterized via the right carotid artery, using standard 5F catheters. The thermal camera was focused at a 1m-distance to the heart surface and the x-ray was angled to LAO position. We performed simultaneous thermal and cine angiography using Angiovist 370 at different temperatures (10-40 degrees C) and injection rates (1-2.5 ml/s). Different grades of stenoses were created by snares. Thermistor probe readings of the epimyocardium and the left atrial blood were performed to reference the thermal camera measurements. We obtained high resolution TCA images of both the coronaries and of the myocardial perfusion beds whenever there was greater than 4 degrees C difference between injectate and epicardial temperature. The TCA detection of stenoses as compared to cine angiography was 29/30 (96.6%) in arrested and 36/42 (85.7%) in beating hearts. Coronary occlusion produced immediate and dramatic perfusion defects as detected by TCA. TCAs were highly reproducible. Injection rate of 2 ml/s provided optimal thermal coronary images. Thermal angiograms of the LAD were sometimes affected by large crossing coronary veins, myocardial bridges, and excess of fat pretending nonexistent coronary stenosis. TCA is a highly sensitive and reproducible method as compared to standard coronary angiography and allows for detection of coronary stenoses. The image quality was best in arrested hearts.