Lumen boundaries extracted from coronary computed tomography angiography on computed fractional flow reserve (FFRCT): validation with optical coherence tomography

Abstract

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of minimum lumen area (MLA) by coronary computed tomography angiography (cCTA) and its impact on fractional flow reserve (FFRCT). Methods and results: Fifty-seven patients (118 lesions, 72 vessels) who underwent cCTA and optical coherence tomography (OCT) were enrolled. OCT and cCTA were co-registered and MLAs were measured with both modalities. FFROCT was calculated using OCT-updated models with cCTA-based lumen geometry replaced by OCT-derived geometry. Lesions were grouped by Agatston score (AS) and minimum lumen diameter (MLD) using the OCT catheter and guidewire size (1.0 mm) as a threshold. For all lesions, the average absolute difference between cCTA and OCT MLA was 0.621 +/- 0.571 mm(2). Pearson correlation coefficients between cCTA and OCT MLAs in lesions with low-intermediate and high AS were 0.873 and 0.787, respectively (both p<0.0001). Irrespective of AS score, excellent correlations were observed for MLA (r=0.839, p<0.0001) and FFR comparisons (r=0.918, p<0.0001) in lesions with MLD >= 1.0 mm but not for lesions with MLD <1.0 mm. Conclusions: The spatial resolution of cCTA or calcification does not practically limit the accuracy of lumen boundary identification by cCTA or FFRCT calculations for MLD >= 1.0 mm. The accuracy of cCTA MLA could not be adequately assessed for lesions with MLD <1.0 mm.