RAPIDLY AND ACCURATELY DETECTING SIGNIFICANT CORONARY ARTERY STENOSIS IN PATIENTS WITH SUSPECTED STABLE CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE AND NORMAL SEGMENTAL WALL MOTION BY SPECKLE TRACKING AUTOMATED FUNCTIONAL IMAGING

This study was performed to explore the value of a machine with built-in speckle tracking automated functional imaging (AFI) in predicting the severity of coronary artery lesions in patients with suspected stable coronary artery disease (SCAD) with normal wall motion. One hundred forty-three consecutive patients with clinically suspected SCAD with normal wall motion were included. Multiple parameters, including global longitudinal peak strain, post-systolic index (PSI) and peak strain dispersion, were automatically analyzed with AFI. Territorial longitudinal strain (TLS) and territorial PSI (TPSI) were also calculated. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses revealed that global longitudinal peak strain and PSI were superior to other parameters in detecting left main or three-vessel SCAD. A combination of TLS and TPSI could improve diagnostic performance in identifying significant stenotic left anterior descending and right coronary arteries. In conclusion, 2-dimensional speckle tracking AFI can rapidly provide multiple parameters for detecting significant coronary artery stenosis with high accuracy in patients suspected of having SCAD with normal wall motion. (E-mail: yani liu@163.com) (c) 2020 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the value of a machine with built-in speckle tracking AFI in predicting the severity of coronary artery lesions in patients with suspected SCAD. Global longitudinal peak strain and PSI were shown to be superior in detecting SCAD, while the combination of TLS and TPSI improved diagnostic performance for identifying significant stenotic arteries.