title: Coronary microvascular resistance: methods for its quantification in humans.
abstract: Coronary microvascular dysfunction is a topic that has recently gained considerable interest in the medical community owing to the growing awareness that microvascular dysfunction occurs in a number of myocardial disease states and has important prognostic implications. With this growing awareness, comes the desire to accurately assess the functional capacity of the coronary microcirculation for diagnostic purposes as well as to monitor the effects of therapeutic interventions that are targeted at reversing the extent of coronary microvascular dysfunction. Measurements of coronary microvascular resistance play a pivotal role in achieving that goal and several invasive and noninvasive methods have been developed for its quantification. This review is intended to provide an update pertaining to the methodology of these different imaging techniques, including the discussion of their strengths and weaknesses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. p.knaapen@vumc.nl
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Knaapen
authors.forename: Paolo G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Camici
authors.forename: Koen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nijveldt
authors.forename: Jeroen J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Bax
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Westerhof
authors.forename: Marco J W
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Götte
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jerosch-Herold
authors.forename: Heinrich R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Schelbert
authors.forename: Adriaan A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Lammertsma
authors.forename: Albert C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: van Rossum
mesh_terms: D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D053805:Fractional Flow Reserve, Myocardial; D006334:Heart Function Tests / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008833:Microcirculation; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013815:Thermodilution; D014655:Vascular Resistance