Fractional flow reserve and frequency of PCI in patients with coronary artery disease

Background Fractional flow reserve (FFR) guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been validated in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) but has not yet been verified under specific conditions such as heart failure or microvascular dysfunction. The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of specific patient comorbidities on FFR values and thus the frequency of PCI in patients with intermediate coronary stenosis. Methods A total of 652 patients with CAD and intermediate coronary stenosis who were assessed for FFR were included in this retrospective study. In a subgroup analysis, specific comorbidities such as heart failure with non-ST-segment-elevated acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS), heart failure, diabetes mellitus, atrial fibrillation (AF), and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) were considered. Results In all lesions with an FFR <= 0.80 (n = 227/808, 28.1%), PCI was performed using drug-eluting stents. Pathological FFR values (FFR <= 0.80) before PCI were most frequently observed in the left anterior descending artery (LAD; n = 168/418, 39.9%) followed by the right coronary artery (RCA; n = 37/178, 20.7%) and the left circumflex artery (LCX; 22/223, 9.8%). The comorbidities NSTE-ACS (p = 0.28), heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF; p = 0.63), heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF; p = 0.3719), diabetes mellitus (p = 0.177), or LVH (p = 0.407) had no major impact on the occurrence of pathological FFR values; there was also no association between FFR and the occurrence of lesions in the different target vessels. Conclusion The occurrence of pathological FFR values, most frequently documented in the LAD, was the same in patients with or without HFrEF, HFpEF, diabetes mellitus, AF, and LVH, demonstrating that these comorbidities did not influence FFR values and, thus, the indication for PCI.