ACC: FFRCT—Ready for prime time or not?
SAN FRANCISCO—Is there a better way to measure fractional flow reserve (FFR), Bon-Kwon Koo, MD, of Seoul National University queried a crowded room March 9 during an educational session at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) scientific session.
The current model is good for patients, safe and effective, Koo said. However, it requires an invasive procedure and is expensive. FFRCT may provide a method to measure FFR without an invasive procedure.
FFRCT extracts geometry from a CT scan to determine boundary conditions and fluid properties. In addition, velocity and pressure can be calculated. The hitch is that a supercomputer is required to solve the blood flow equation, said Koo. The results provide anatomical and functional data, thus giving a possible answer to the question at hand.
FFRCT may change daily practice in several ways. Most importantly, it may be a novel, fast, risk-free, noninvasive cost-saving way to measure FFR and identify patients who may not need to be sent to the cath lab for stenting or PCI. It can provide information to help surgeons plan strategies before invasive procedures, bypass procedures or interventional procedures. Noninvasive CT-derived FFR also can predict the functional significance of coronary lesions.
Despite its promise, however, FFRCT is not ready for prime time, Koo said. FFRCT depends on the diagnostic accuracy of coronary CT angiography stenosis, which is less than true stenosis. With current technologies, true stenosis provides the required diagnostic accuracy.
FFRCT is promising, but further development of the technology is required, Koo concluded.