title: Aggregate plaque volume by coronary computed tomography angiography is superior and incremental to luminal narrowing for diagnosis of ischemic lesions of intermediate stenosis severity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the performance of percent aggregate plaque volume (%APV), which represents cumulative plaque volume as a function of total vessel volume, by coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) for identification of ischemic lesions of intermediate stenosis severity.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Coronary lesions of intermediate stenosis demonstrate significant rates of ischemia. Coronary CTA enables quantification of luminal narrowing and %APV.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified 58 patients with intermediate lesions (30% to 69% diameter stenosis) who underwent invasive angiography and fractional flow reserve. Coronary CTA measures included diameter stenosis, area stenosis, minimal lumen diameter (MLD), minimal lumen area (MLA) and %APV. %APV was defined as the sum of plaque volume divided by the sum of vessel volume from the ostium to the distal portion of the lesion. Fractional flow reserve ≤ 0.80 was considered diagnostic of lesion-specific ischemia. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and net reclassification improvement (NRI) were also evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-two of 58 lesions (38%) caused ischemia. Compared with nonischemic lesions, ischemic lesions had smaller MLD (1.3 vs. 1.7 mm, p = 0.01), smaller MLA (2.5 vs. 3.8 mm(2), p = 0.01), and greater %APV (48.9% vs. 39.3%, p < 0.0001). Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was highest for %APV (0.85) compared with diameter stenosis (0.68), area stenosis (0.66), MLD (0.75), or MLA (0.78). Addition of %APV to other measures showed significant reclassification over diameter stenosis (NRI 0.77, p < 0.001), area stenosis (NRI 0.63, p = 0.002), MLD (NRI 0.62, p = 0.001), and MLA (NRI 0.43, p = 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with diameter stenosis, area stenosis, MLD, and MLA, %APV by coronary CTA improves identification, discrimination, and reclassification of ischemic lesions of intermediate stenosis severity.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nakazato
authors.forename: Aryeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shalev
authors.forename: Joon-Hyung
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Doh
authors.forename: Bon-Kwon
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Koo
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gransar
authors.forename: Millie J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.forename: Jonathon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leipsic
authors.forename: Hyung-Bok
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Berman
authors.forename: James K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Min
mesh_terms: D019540:Area Under Curve; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D053805:Fractional Flow Reserve, Myocardial; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: AUC; CAD; CI; CT; CTA; FFR; ICA; ICC; MLA; MLD; NRI; OR; area under the receiver operating characteristic curve; computed tomography; computed tomography angiography; confidence interval; coronary artery disease; coronary computed tomography angiography; coronary plaque; fractional flow reserve; intraclass correlation coefficients; invasive coronary angiography; minimal lumen area; minimal lumen diameter; myocardial ischemia; net reclassification improvement; odds ratio