Imaging techniques for assessment of coronary flow reserve

Abstract

The assessment of coronary flow reserve (CFR) may be useful for the functional evaluation of coronary artery disease (CAD). Invasive techniques, such as intracoronary Doppler ultrasound and pressure-derived method, directly assess CFR velocity and fractional flow reserve. Positron emission tomography (PET) has emerged as an accurate noninvasive technique to quantify CFR. Nevertheless, this approach has not been applied to routine studies because of its high cost and complexity. Recently, attempts to estimate CFR with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) tracers have been made in order to obtain, with noninvasive methods, data for quantitative functional assessment of CAD. This review analyzes the relative merit and limitations of CFR measurements by cardiac imaging techniques and describes the potential clinical applications.

Measurement of Flow Volume in the Presence of Reverse Flow with Ultrasound Speckle Decorrelation

“…The supply of blood through blood vessels can be impaired by cardiovascular diseases. Accurately measuring the volumetric flow rate in blood vessels could be potentially useful in a variety of clinical applications, such as assessing the cardiac output (Allsager and Swanevelder, 2003, Mehta, 2014), determining the degree of vessel stenosis in coronary arteries (Petretta et al 2011), monitoring the blood supply to the brain (Likittanasombut et al 2006), evaluating kidney or liver failure and measuring the effects of the corresponding pharmacologic therapies (Burkart et al, 1993, Johnson et al, 1985, Young et al, 1996).…”