Coronary Flow Variations Following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Affect Diastolic Nonhyperemic Pressure Ratios

Muhammad Aetesam-Ur-Rahman1, Tian X Zhao1, Kitty Paques1

  • 1Department of Interventional Cardiology Royal Papworth Hospital Cambridge United Kingdom.

Insights

Post-percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) whole cardiac cycle nonhyperemic pressure ratios (NHPRs) show better stability and reproducibility than diastolic NHPRs. This finding is crucial for accurately assessing procedural success after PCI.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Medicine
  • Interventional Cardiology
  • Hemodynamics

Background:

  • Post-percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) fractional flow reserve (FFR) ≥0.90 indicates procedural success.
  • The stability and reproducibility of nonhyperemic pressure ratios (NHPRs) after PCI are not well understood.
  • Transient submaximal hyperemia post-PCI may impact the precision of NHPRs.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the stability and reproducibility of various NHPRs immediately after PCI and during a recovery period.
  • To evaluate the impact of transient hyperemia on post-PCI hemodynamic measurements.

Main Methods:

  • Fifty-seven patients underwent hemodynamic assessment immediately post-PCI and at 10, 20, and 30 minutes, with repeat assessment at 3 months.
  • Offline analysis derived pressure indexes (e.g., Pd/Pa, instantaneous wave-free ratio, resting full cycle ratio, FFR) and microcirculatory resistances.
  • Thermodilution time and basal microcirculatory resistance were measured to assess hyperemia.

Main Results:

  • Transient submaximal hyperemia was observed post-PCI, indicated by increased thermodilution time and basal microcirculatory resistance at 30 minutes.
  • No significant differences were found in resting whole cycle pressure ratios (Pd/Pa, resting full cycle ratio) and diastolic pressure ratios (diastolic pressure ratio, mathematically derived instantaneous wave-free ratio) between time points.
  • Whole cardiac cycle NHPRs demonstrated superior stability post-PCI compared to diastolic NHPRs, with 1 in 5 diastolic NHPRs crossing the clinical decision threshold upon repetition.

Conclusions:

  • Whole cardiac cycle NHPRs exhibit better reproducibility and clinical precision following PCI than diastolic NHPRs.
  • The improved stability of whole cycle NHPRs may be attributed to reduced perturbation from diastolic reactive hyperemia and left ventricular stunning.
  • These findings support the use of whole cardiac cycle NHPRs for more reliable assessment of PCI procedural success.