Correlation between thallium-201 myocardial perfusion defects and the functional severity of coronary artery stenosis as assessed by pressure-derived myocardial fractional flow reserve

Although a relationship between the coronary pressure-derived fractional flow reserve (FFR) and the presence of myocardial ischemia as demonstrated by radionuclide imaging has been reported in a select group of patients, it remains to be established whether this relation also holds true in actual clinical settings with a heterogeneous group of patients. Accordingly, 194 coronary vessels and their supply territories were evaluated in 165 consecutive patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease. An FFR <0.75, which is regarded as indicative of functionally important stenosis, showed a significant correlation with the redistribution of Tl-201(p<0.0001), with a sensitivity of 79% and specificity of 73%. In 70 infarct-related coronary arteries, the sensitivity and specificity were 79% and 75%, respectively, whereas in the 124 remaining vessels that were not related to the myocardial infarct, the sensitivity and specificity were 80% and 72%, respectively. In addition, the FFR exhibited a significant inverse correlation with the Tl-201 reversibility score (r = -0.62; p<0.0001). These results suggest that the FFR has a significant relationship with scintigraphic evidence of myocardial ischemia and can be regarded as a marker of its presence or absence in patients in actual clinical settings.