These findings identify a normal reference range for studies assessing the coronary circulation and post-stenotic coronary vasodilatory reserve in patients with and without coronary artery disease encountered in the cardiac catheterization laboratory.

Determination of flow velocity after reperfusion may enhance patient characterization and provide the physiological rationale for clinical variations after reperfusion therapy.

Although a majority of patients after stenting normalize CVR for the individual circulation (ie, normal CVR or normal rCVR), in those with impaired CVR(stent), the analysis of coronary flow dynamics suggests several different physiological mechanisms. Additional assessment may be required to fully characterize the physiological result for such patients to exclude remediable luminal abnormalities.

In most cases, increases in CVR were associated with increases in coronary lumen cross-sectional area. These data suggest that impaired CVR after angioplasty is often related to the degree of residual narrowing, which at times may not be appreciated by angiography. A physiologically complemented approach to balloon angioplasty may improve procedural outcome.