[Comparison of methods for computer and visual assessment of stenosing lesions of the coronary arteries. 1]

A system of computer analysis of coronary arteries stenotic lesions developed in the USSR Cardiology Research Centre, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, is described. Reliability of the computer analysis data was assessed, and computer and visual methods were compared on the basis of phantom study. The study was performed in 5 models of stenotic coronary arteries, the main parameters of which were measured mechanically as well as by computer and visual analysis of their images. Both methods proved to give highly reproducible intraobserver and interobserver results. Comparison to mechanically obtained data showed that the results of computer analysis are highly significant while visual evaluation allows no accurate evaluation of the stenosis degree (it is overestimated).