Lesion length assessment using a new vessel caliper.
Assessment of coronary lesion length using visual estimation or quantitative coronary angiography can be unreliable. We tested the accuracy of a new handheld caliper device to measure lesion length in a bench-top model and in eight patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Caliper-derived length measurements were compared to the known reference distance in the bench-top model and visual or intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-derived measurements in vivo. In the coronary model, caliper-derived measurements were accurate and correlated well with known reference distances regardless of the angiographic projection. During PCI, there was a poor correlation between the best visual estimate of length and IVUS-derived measurements. In contrast, caliper-derived measurements correlated closely with IVUS-derived measurements. This handheld caliper provides a simple and accurate method of assessing intracoronary lesion length and may be particularly useful during coronary stenting and when adjunctive brachytherapy is performed.
Wolyn
Robert
R
Division of Cardiology, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.
Dixon
Simon R
SR
Almany
Steven L
SL
Korotko
Joe
J
Huang
Raywin R
RR
O'Neill
William W
WW
D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D015641:Radiography, Interventional / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods