title: Comparative cath-lab assessment of coronary stenosis by radiology technician, junior and senior interventional cardiologist in patients treated with coronary angioplasty.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Exact quantification of plaque extension during coronary angioplasty (PCI) usually falls on interventional cardiologist (IC). Quantitative coronary stenosis assessment (QCA) may be possibly committed to the radiology technician (RT), who usually supports cath-lab nurse and IC during PCI. We therefore sought to investigate the reliability of QCA performed by RT in comparison with IC.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-four consecutive patients with acute coronary syndrome underwent PCI; target coronary vessel size beneath target coronary lesion (S) and target coronary lesion length (L) were assessed by the RT, junior IC (JIC), and senior IC (SIC) and then compared. SIC evaluation, which determined the final stent selection for coronary stenting, was considered as a reference benchmark.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RT performance with QCA support in assessing target vessel size and target lesion length was not significantly different from SIC (r = 0.46, p < 0.01; r = 0.64, p < 0.001, respectively) as well as JIC (r = 0.79, r = 0.75, p < 0.001, respectively). JIC performance was significantly better than RT in assessing target vessel size (p < 0.05), while not significant when assessing target lesion length.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RT may reliably assess target lesion by using adequate QCA software in the cath-lab in case of PCI; RT performance does not differ from SIC.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, University of Foggia Foggia Italy.
authors.forename: Natale Daniele
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Brunetti
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, University of Foggia Foggia Italy.
authors.forename: Felice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Delli Carri
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, University of Foggia Foggia Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Assunta
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ruggiero
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, University of Foggia Foggia Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cuculo
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, University of Foggia Foggia Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ruggiero
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, University of Foggia Foggia Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ziccardi
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, University of Foggia Foggia Italy.
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Gennaro
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, University of Foggia Foggia Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Biase
keywords: coronary angioplasty; quantitative coronary angiography; radiology technician