J Korean Med Sci.  2000 Apr;15(2):139-145. 10.3346/jkms.2000.15.2.139.

Assessment of coronary flow reserve with transthoracic Doppler echocardiography: comparison with intracoronary Doppler method

• Kim SM
• Shim WJ
• Lim HE
• Hwang GS
• Song WH
• Lim DS
• Kim YH
• Seo HS
• Oh DJ
• Ro YM

• KMID: 648114
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2000.15.2.139

Abstract

To evaluate the feasibility and usefulness of transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTDE) as a non-invasive method in recording distal anterior descending (LAD) coronary flow velocity, we compared coronary flow reserve (CFR) measured by TTDE with measurements by intracoronary Doppler wire (ICDW). Twenty-one patients without LAD stenosis were studied. ICDW performed at baseline and after intracoronary injection of 18 microg adenosine. TTDE was performed at baseline and after intravenous adenosine (140 microg/kgmin for 2 min). Adequate Doppler recordings of coronary flow velocities during systole were obtained in 14 of 21 study patients (67%) and during diastole in 17 (81%) patients. Baseline and hyperemic peak diastolic flow velocities measured by TTDE were significantly smaller than those obtained by ICDW (p<0.05). However, diminishing trends of diastolic and systolic velocity ratio after hyperemia were similarly observed in both methods. CFR obtained by TTDE (3.0+/-0.5), was higher than the value calculated by ICDW (2.5+/-0.4). There were significant correlations between the values obtained by the two methods (r=0.72, p<0.01). It is concluded that TTDE is a feasible method in measuring coronary flow velocity and appears to be a promising non-invasive method in evaluating CFR.

Keyword

Coronary Artery Disease; Echocardiography; Ultrasonography, Doppler; Circulation Coronary

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aged
Blood Flow Velocity
Comparative Study
Coronary Angiography
Coronary Circulation*
Coronary Disease/ultrasonography*
Echocardiography, Doppler/standards
Echocardiography, Doppler/methods*
Female
Heart Rate
Human
Hyperemia/ultrasonography
Linear Models
Male
Middle Age
Prospective Studies
Reproducibility of Results