@article {Naya248, author = {Masanao Naya and Venkatesh L. Murthy and Viviany R. Taqueti and Courtney R. Foster and Josh Klein and Mariya Garber and Sharmila Dorbala and Jon Hainer and Ron Blankstein and Frederick Resnic and Marcelo F. Di Carli}, title = {Preserved Coronary Flow Reserve Effectively Excludes High-Risk Coronary Artery Disease on Angiography}, volume = {55}, number = {2}, pages = {248--255}, year = {2014}, doi = {10.2967/jnumed.113.121442}, publisher = {Society of Nuclear Medicine}, abstract = {Myocardial perfusion imaging has limited sensitivity for the detection of high-risk coronary artery disease (CAD). We tested the hypothesis that a normal coronary flow reserve (CFR) would be helpful for excluding the presence of high-risk CAD on angiography. Methods: We studied 290 consecutive patients undergoing 82Rb PET within 180 d of invasive coronary angiography. High-risk CAD on angiography was defined as 2-vessel disease (>=70\% stenosis), including the proximal left anterior descending artery; 3-vessel disease; or left main CAD (>=50\% stenosis). Patients with prior Q wave myocardial infarction, elevated troponin levels between studies, prior coronary artery bypass grafting, a left ventricular ejection fraction of less than 40\%, or severe valvular heart disease were excluded. Results: Fifty-five patients (19\%) had high-risk CAD on angiography. As expected, the trade-off between the sensitivity and the specificity of the CFR for identifying high-risk CAD varied substantially depending on the cutoff selected. In multivariable analysis, a binary CFR of less than or equal to 1.93 provided incremental diagnostic information for the identification of high-risk CAD beyond the model with the Duke clinical risk score (\>25\%), percentage of left ventricular ischemia (\>10\%), transient ischemic dilation index (\>1.07), and change in the left ventricular ejection fraction during stress (\<2) (P = 0.0009). In patients with normal or slightly to moderately abnormal results on perfusion scans (\<10\% of left ventricular mass) during stress (n = 136), a preserved CFR (\>1.93) excluded high-risk CAD with a high sensitivity (86\%) and a high negative predictive value (97\%). Conclusion: A normal CFR has a high negative predictive value for excluding high-risk CAD on angiography. Although an abnormal CFR increases the probability of significant obstructive CAD, it cannot reliably distinguish significant epicardial stenosis from nonobstructive, diffuse atherosclerosis or microvascular dysfunction.}, issn = {0161-5505}, URL = {https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/55/2/248}, eprint = {https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/55/2/248.full.pdf}, journal = {Journal of Nuclear Medicine} }