Deleterious Effects of Cold Air Inhalation on Coronary Physiological Indices in Patients With Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease

Background Cold air inhalation during exercise increases cardiac mortality, but the pathophysiology is unclear. During cold and exercise, dual‐sensor intracoronary wires measured coronary microvascular resistance (MVR) and blood flow velocity (CBF), and cardiac magnetic resonance measured subendocardial perfusion. Methods and Results Forty‐two patients (62±9 years) undergoing cardiac catheterization, 32 with obstructive coronary stenoses and 10 without, performed either (1) 5 minutes of cold air inhalation (5°F) or (2) two 5‐minute supine‐cycling periods: 1 at room temperature and 1 during cold air inhalation (5°F) (randomized order). We compared rest and peak stress MVR, CBF, and subendocardial perfusion measurements. In patients with unobstructed coronary arteries (n=10), cold air inhalation at rest decreased MVR by 6% (P=0.41), increasing CBF by 20% (P<0.01). However, in patients with obstructive stenoses (n=10), cold air inhalation at rest increased MVR by 17% (P<0.01), reducing CBF by 3% (P=0.85). Consequently, in patients with obstructive stenoses undergoing the cardiac magnetic resonance protocol (n=10), cold air inhalation reduced subendocardial perfusion (P<0.05). Only patients with obstructive stenoses performed this protocol (n=12). Cycling at room temperature decreased MVR by 29% (P<0.001) and increased CBF by 61% (P<0.001). However, cold air inhalation during cycling blunted these adaptations in MVR (P=0.12) and CBF (P<0.05), an effect attributable to defective early diastolic CBF acceleration (P<0.05) and associated with greater ST‐segment depression (P<0.05). Conclusions In patients with obstructive coronary stenoses, cold air inhalation causes deleterious changes in MVR and CBF. These diminish or abolish the normal adaptations during exertion that ordinarily match myocardial blood supply to demand

Physiology of Angina and Its Alleviation With Nitroglycerin: Insights From Invasive Catheter Laboratory Measurements During Exercise

BACKGROUND: The mechanisms governing exercise-induced angina and its alleviation by the most commonly used antianginal drug, nitroglycerin, are incompletely understood. The purpose of this study was to develop a method by which the effects of antianginal drugs could be evaluated invasively during physiological exercise to gain further understanding of the clinical impact of angina and nitroglycerin. METHODS: Forty patients (mean age, 65.2±7.6 years) with exertional angina and coronary artery disease underwent cardiac catheterization via radial access and performed incremental exercise using a supine cycle ergometer. As they developed limiting angina, sublingual nitroglycerin was administered to half the patients, and all patients continued to exercise for 2 minutes at the same workload. Throughout exercise, distal coronary pressure and flow velocity and central aortic pressure were recorded with sensor wires. RESULTS: Patients continued to exercise after nitroglycerin administration with less ST-segment depression (P=0.003) and therefore myocardial ischemia. Significant reductions in afterload (aortic pressure, P=0.030) and myocardial oxygen demand were seen (tension-time index, P=0.024; rate-pressure product, P=0.046), as well as an increase in myocardial oxygen supply (Buckberg index, P=0.017). Exercise reduced peripheral arterial wave reflection (P<0.05), which was not further augmented by the administration of nitroglycerin (P=0.648). The observed increases in coronary pressure gradient, stenosis resistance, and flow velocity did not reach statistical significance; however, the diastolic velocity–pressure gradient relation was consistent with a significant increase in relative stenosis severity (k coefficient, P<0.0001), in keeping with exerciseinduced vasoconstriction of stenosed epicardial segments and dilatation of normal segments, with trends toward reversal with nitroglycerin. CONCLUSIONS: The catheterization laboratory protocol provides a model to study myocardial ischemia and the actions of novel and established antianginal drugs. Administration of nitroglycerin causes changes in the systemic and coronary circulation that combine to reduce myocardial oxygen demand and to increase supply, thereby attenuating exerciseinduced ischemia. Designing antianginal therapies that exploit these mechanisms may provide new therapeutic strategies

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection

We present a case of a 43-year-old lady who presented with an acute coronary syndrome, but without any cardiac risk factors or previous cardiac symptoms, and who had a spontaneous coronary artery dissection. This was successfully treated with percutaneous coronary intervention. A brief discussion of this clinical entity and literature review is presented

Baseline coronary pressures, instant wave-free ratio (iFR) and Pd/Pa: making the most of available information

AIMS: Adoption of fractional flow reserve (FFR) remains low (6-8%), partly because of the time, cost and potential inconvenience associated with vasodilator administration. The instantaneous wave-Free Ratio (iFR) is a pressure-only index of stenosis severity calculated without vasodilator drugs. Before outcome trials test iFR as a sole guide to revascularisation, we evaluate the merits of a hybrid iFR- FFR decision-making strategy for universal physiological assessment. METHODS AND RESULTS: Coronary pressure traces from 577 stenoses were analysed. iFR was calculated as the ratio between Pd and Pa in the resting diastolic wave-free window. A hybrid iFR-FFR strategy was evaluated, by allowing iFR to defer some stenoses (where negative predictive value is high) and treat others (where positive predictive value is high), with adenosine being given only to patients with iFR in between those values. For the most recent fixed FFR cut-off (0.8), an iFR of <0.86 could be used to confirm treatment (PPV of 92%), whilst an iFR value of >0.93 could be used to defer revascularisation (NPV of 91%). Limiting vasodilator drugs to cases with iFR values between 0.86 to 0.93 would obviate the need for vasodilator drugs in 57% of patients, whilst maintaining 95% agreement with an FFR-only strategy. If the 0.75-0.8 FFR grey zone is accounted for, vasodilator drug requirement would decrease by 76%. CONCLUSION: A hybrid iFR-FFR decision-making strategy for revascularisation could increase adoption of physiology-guided PCI, by more than halving the need for vasodilator administration, whilst maintaining high classification agreement with an FFR-only strategy