Long-term prognostic implications of hemodynamic and plaque assessment using coronary CT angiography

Abstract

Background and aimsHemodynamic and plaque characteristics can be analyzed using coronary CT angiography (CTA). We aimed to explore long-term prognostic implications of hemodynamic and plaque characteristics using coronary CT angiography (CTA). MethodsInvasive fractional flow reserve (FFR) and CTA-derived FFR (FFRCT) were undertaken for 136 lesions in 78 vessels and followed-up to 10 years until December 2020. FFRCT, wall shear stress (WSS), change in FFRCT across the lesion (ΔFFRCT), total plaque volume (TPV), percent atheroma volume (PAV), and low-attenuation plaque volume (LAPV) for target lesions [L] and vessels [V] were obtained by independent core laboratories. Their collective influence was evaluated for the clinical endpoints of target vessel failure (TVF) and target lesion failure (TLF). ResultsDuring a median follow-up of 10.1 years, PAV[V] (per 10% increase, HR 2.32 [95% CI 1.11–4.86], p = 0.025), and FFRCT[V] (per 0.1 increase, HR 0.56 [95% CI 0.37–0.84], p = 0.006) were independent predictors of TVF for the per-vessel analysis, and WSS[L] (per 100 dyne/cm2 increase, HR 1.43 [1.09–1.88], p = 0.010), LAPV[L] (per 10 mm3 increase, HR 3.81 [1.16–12.5], p = 0.028), and ΔFFRCT[L] (per 0.1 increase, HR 1.39 [1.02–1.90], p = 0.040) were independent predictors of TLF for the per-lesion analysis after adjustment for clinical and lesion characteristics. The addition of both plaque and hemodynamic predictors improved the predictability for 10-year TVF and TLF of clinical and lesion characteristics (all p < 0.05). ConclusionsVessel- and lesion-level hemodynamic characteristics, and vessel-level plaque quantity, and lesion-level plaque compositional characteristics assessed by CTA offer independent and additive long-term prognostic value.