A Strategy of Underexpansion and Ad Hoc Post-Dilation of Balloon-Expandable Transcatheter Aortic Valves in Patients at Risk of Annular Injury Favorable Mid-Term Outcomes

AbstractObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate a strategy of intentional underexpansion of excessively oversized balloon-expandable transcatheter heart valves (THVs) in terms of clinical outcomes, valve function, and frame durability at 1 year.BackgroundTranscatheter aortic valve replacement requires the selection of an optimally sized THV to ensure paravalvular sealing and fixation without risking annular injury. However, some patients have “borderline” annular dimensions that require choosing between a THV that may be too small or another that may be too large.MethodsWe evaluated 47 patients at risk of annular injury who underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with an oversized, but deliberately underexpanded, THV followed by post-dilation if required. Clinical evaluation, echocardiography, and cardiac computed tomography were performed pre-TAVR, post-TAVR, and at 1 year.ResultsDeployment of oversized THVs with modest underfilling of the deployment balloon (<10% by volume) was not associated with significant annular injury. Paravalvular regurgitation was mild or less in 95.7% of patients, with post-dilation required in 10.7%. THV hemodynamic function was excellent and remained stable at 1 year. Computed tomography documented stent frame circularity in 87.5%. Underexpansion was greatest within the intra-annular THV inflow (stent frame area 85.8% of nominal). There was no evidence of stent frame recoil, deformation, or fracture at 1 year.ConclusionsIn carefully selected patients with borderline annulus dimensions and in whom excessive oversizing of a balloon-expandable SAPIEN XT valve (Edwards Lifesciences, Inc., Irvine, California) is a concern, a strategy of deliberate underexpansion, with ad hoc post-dilation, if necessary, may reduce the risk of annular injury without compromising valve performance

Diagnostic accuracy and discrimination of ischemia by fractional flow reserve CT using a clinical use rule: Results from the Determination of Fractional Flow Reserve by Anatomic Computed Tomographic Angiography study

BackgroundFractional flow reserve (FFR) is the gold standard for determining lesion-specific ischemia. Computed FFRCT derived from coronary CT angiography (coronary CTA) correlates well with invasive FFR and accurately differentiates between ischemia-producing and nonischemic lesions. The diagnostic performance of FFRCT when applied in a clinically relevant way to all vessels ≥ 2 mm in diameter stratified by sex and age has not been previously examined.MethodsTwo hundred fifty-two patients and 407 vessels underwent coronary CTA, FFRCT, invasive coronary angiography, and invasive FFR. FFRCT and FFR ≤ 0.80 were considered ischemic, whereas CT stenosis ≥ 50% was considered obstructive. The diagnostic performance of FFRCT was assessed following a prespecified clinical use rule which included all vessels ≥ 2 mm in diameter, not just those assessed by invasive FFR measurements. Stenoses &lt;30% were assigned an FFR of 0.90, and stenoses &gt;90% were assigned an FFR of 0.50. Diagnostic performance of FFRCT was stratified by vessel diameter, sex, and age.ResultsBy FFR, ischemia was identified in 129 of 252 patients (51%) and in 151 of 407 vessels (31%). Mean age (± standard deviation) was 62.9 ± 9 years, and women were older (65.5 vs 61.9 years; P = .003). Per-patient diagnostic accuracy (83% vs 72%; P &lt; .005) and specificity (54% vs 82%, P &lt; .001) improved significantly after application of the clinical use tool. These were significantly improved over standard coronary CTA values before application of the clinical use rule. Discriminatory power of FFRCT also increased compared with baseline (area under the receiver operating characteristics curve [AUC]: 0.93 vs 0.81, P &lt; .001). Diagnostic performance improved in both sexes with no significant differences between the sexes (AUC: 0.93 vs 0.90, P = .43). There were no differences in the discrimination of FFRCT after application of the clinical use rule when stratified by age ≥ 65 or &lt;65 years (AUC: 0.95 vs 0.90, P = .10).ConclusionsThe diagnostic accuracy and discriminatory power of FFRCT improve significantly after the application of a clinical use rule which includes all clinically relevant vessels &gt;2 mm in diameter. FFRCT has similar diagnostic accuracy and discriminatory power for ischemia detection in men and women irrespective of age using a cut point of 65 years

Diagnostic performance of cardiac imaging methods to diagnose ischaemia-causing coronary artery disease when directly compared with fractional flow reserve as a reference standard: A meta-analysis

Aims The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic performance of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), stress echocardiography (SE), invasive coronary angiography (ICA), coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), fractional flow reserve (FFR) derived from CCTA (FFRCT), and cardiac magnetic resonance (MRI) imaging when directly compared with an FFR reference standard. Method and results PubMed andWeb of Knowledge were searched for investigations published between 1 January 2002 and 28 February 2015. Studies performing FFR in at least 75% of coronary vessels for the diagnosis of ischaemic coronary artery disease (CAD) were included. Twenty-three articles reporting on 3788 patients and 5323 vessels were identified. Meta-analysis was performed for pooled sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios (LR), diagnostic odds ratio, and summary receiver operating characteristic curves. In contrast to ICA, CCTA, and FFRCT reports, studies evaluating SPECT, SE, and MRI were largely retrospective, single-centre and with generally smaller study samples. On a per-patient basis, the sensitivity of CCTA (90%, 95% CI: 86-93), FFRCT (90%, 95% CI: 85-93), and MRI (90%, 95% CI: 75-97) were higher than for SPECT (70%, 95% CI: 59-80), SE (77%, 95% CI: 61-88), and ICA (69%, 95% CI: 65-75). The highest and lowest perpatient specificity was observed for MRI (94%, 95% CI: 79-99) and for CCTA (39%, 95% CI: 34-44), respectively. Similar specificities were noted for SPECT (78%, 95% CI: 68-87), SE (75%, 95% CI: 63-85), FFRCT (71%, 95% CI: 65-75%), and ICA (67%, 95% CI: 63-71). On a per-vessel basis, the highest sensitivity was for CCTA (pooled sensitivity, 91%: 88-93), MRI (91%: 84-95), and FFRCT (83%, 78-87), with lower sensitivities for ICA (71%, 69-74), and SPECT (57%: 49-64). Per-vessel specificity was highest for MRI (85%, 79-89), FFRCT (78%: 78-81), and SPECT (75%: 69-80), whereas ICA (66%: 64-68) and CCTA (58%: 55-61) yielded a lower specificity. Conclusions In this meta-analysis comparing cardiac imaging methods directly to FFR, MRI had the highest performance for diagnosis of ischaemia-causing CAD, with lower performance for SPECT and SE. Anatomic methods of CCTA and ICA yielded lower specificity, with functional assessment of coronary atherosclerosis by SE, SPECT, and FFRCT improving accuracy

The Future of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography: Advanced Analytics and Clinical Insights.

Cardiovascular computed tomography (CCT) has undergone rapid maturation over the last decade and is now of proven clinical utility in the diagnosis and management of coronary artery disease, in guiding structural heart disease intervention, and in the diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart disease. The next decade will undoubtedly witness further advances in hardware and advanced analytics that will potentially see an increasingly core role for CCT at the center of clinical cardiovascular practice. In coronary artery disease assessment this may be via improved hemodynamic adjudication, and shear stress analysis using computational flow dynamics, more accurate and robust plaque characterization with spectral or photon-counting CT, or advanced quantification of CT data via artificial intelligence, machine learning, and radiomics. In structural heart disease, CCT is already pivotal to procedural planning with adjudication of gradients before and following intervention, whereas in congenital heart disease CCT is already used to support clinical decision making from neonates to adults, often with minimal radiation dose. In both these areas the role of computational flow dynamics, advanced tissue printing, and image modelling has the potential to revolutionize the way these complex conditions are managed, and CCT is likely to become an increasingly critical enabler across the whole advancing field of cardiovascular medicine

Computed tomography imaging in the context of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) / transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR): An expert consensus document of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.

Since the publication of the firstexpertconsensus document on computed tomography imaging before transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)/trans- catheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) by the So- ciety of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) in 2012 (1),there has beentremendous advancement in the field. Significant technological advancements and a wealth of trial data have led to deep integration of TAVI/TAVR and CT Imaging into clinical practice. The indications for TAVI/TAVR as the treatment strategy for patients with symptomatic se- vere aortic stenosis (AS) has expanded from those who ar

Diagnostic accuracy and discrimination of ischemia by fractional flow reserve CT using a clinical use rule: results from the Determination of Fractional Flow Reserve by Anatomic Computed Tomographic Angiography study.

BackgroundFractional flow reserve (FFR) is the gold standard for determining lesion-specific ischemia. Computed FFRCT derived from coronary CT angiography (coronary CTA) correlates well with invasive FFR and accurately differentiates between ischemia-producing and nonischemic lesions. The diagnostic performance of FFRCT when applied in a clinically relevant way to all vessels ≥ 2 mm in diameter stratified by sex and age has not been previously examined.MethodsTwo hundred fifty-two patients and 407 vessels underwent coronary CTA, FFRCT, invasive coronary angiography, and invasive FFR. FFRCT and FFR ≤ 0.80 were considered ischemic, whereas CT stenosis ≥ 50% was considered obstructive. The diagnostic performance of FFRCT was assessed following a prespecified clinical use rule which included all vessels ≥ 2 mm in diameter, not just those assessed by invasive FFR measurements. Stenoses &lt;30% were assigned an FFR of 0.90, and stenoses &gt;90% were assigned an FFR of 0.50. Diagnostic performance of FFRCT was stratified by vessel diameter, sex, and age.ResultsBy FFR, ischemia was identified in 129 of 252 patients (51%) and in 151 of 407 vessels (31%). Mean age (± standard deviation) was 62.9 ± 9 years, and women were older (65.5 vs 61.9 years; P = .003). Per-patient diagnostic accuracy (83% vs 72%; P &lt; .005) and specificity (54% vs 82%, P &lt; .001) improved significantly after application of the clinical use tool. These were significantly improved over standard coronary CTA values before application of the clinical use rule. Discriminatory power of FFRCT also increased compared with baseline (area under the receiver operating characteristics curve [AUC]: 0.93 vs 0.81, P &lt; .001). Diagnostic performance improved in both sexes with no significant differences between the sexes (AUC: 0.93 vs 0.90, P = .43). There were no differences in the discrimination of FFRCT after application of the clinical use rule when stratified by age ≥ 65 or &lt;65 years (AUC: 0.95 vs 0.90, P = .10).ConclusionsThe diagnostic accuracy and discriminatory power of FFRCT improve significantly after the application of a clinical use rule which includes all clinically relevant vessels &gt;2 mm in diameter. FFRCT has similar diagnostic accuracy and discriminatory power for ischemia detection in men and women irrespective of age using a cut point of 65 years

Computed tomography imaging in the context of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) / transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR): An expert consensus document of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.

Since the publication of the firstexpertconsensus document on computed tomography imaging before transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)/trans- catheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) by the So- ciety of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) in 2012 (1),there has beentremendous advancement in the field. Significant technological advancements and a wealth of trial data have led to deep integration of TAVI/TAVR and CT Imaging into clinical practice. The indications for TAVI/TAVR as the treatment strategy for patients with symptomatic se- vere aortic stenosis (AS) has expanded from those who ar