Noninvasive assessment of flow velocity and flow velocity reserve in the right gastroepiploic artery graft by transcutaneous Doppler echocardiography: comparison with an invasive technique.
BACKGROUND
The measurement of flow velocity (FV) in coronary artery bypass grafts using a Doppler guidewire has provided useful clinical and physiologic information. The recently developed transcutaneous Doppler echocardiography is a noninvasive technique to measure FV and FV reserve (FVR) in the right gastroepiploic artery (GEA) graft. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether transcutaneous Doppler echocardiography accurately measures FV and FVR in the right GEA graft in a clinical setting.


METHODS
In 33 patients who underwent graft angiography for the assessment of the right GEA graft, FV in the right GEA graft was measured by transcutaneous Doppler echocardiography under the guidance of color flow Doppler imaging at the time of examination using a Doppler guidewire. FV in the midportion of the right GEA graft was measured at baseline and during hyperemic conditions using both transcutaneous Doppler echocardiography and a Doppler guidewire.


RESULTS
There were excellent correlations between the value of FV obtained by transcutaneous Doppler echocardiography and those obtained with the Doppler guidewire (averaged peak velocity: y = 0.95 x + 1.46, r = 0.98, standard error of the estimate [SEE] = 2.94 cm/s; averaged systolic peak velocity: y = 0.94 x + 1.18, r = 0.97, SEE = 3.15 cm/s; diastolic peak velocity: y = 0.97 x + 1.62, r = 0.98, SEE = 4.40 cm/s; averaged diastolic peak velocity: y = 0.95 x + 1.75, r = 0.98, SEE = 3.60 cm/s). The FVR as determined by transcutaneous Doppler echocardiography showed a good correlation with that determined using the Doppler guidewire method (y = 0.90 x + 0.21, r = 0.92, SEE = 0.31).


CONCLUSIONS
Transcutaneous Doppler echocardiography proved to be an accurate noninvasive method to measure FV and FVR in the right GEA graft.
Yagi
Toshikazu
T
Kobe General Hospital.
Yamamuro
Atsushi
A
Akasaka
Takashi
T
Yamabe
Kenji
K
Tamita
Koichi
K
Katayama
Minako
M
Nagai
Kunihiko
K
Tani
Tomoko
T
Tanabe
Kazuaki
K
Morioka
Shigefumi
S
Nasu
Michihiro
M
Okada
Yukikatsu
Y
D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D003971:Diastole / Q000502:physiology; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D024405:Gastroepiploic Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000637:transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013599:Systole / Q000502:physiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014654:Vascular Patency / Q000502:physiology