Diagnostic performance of noninvasive fractional flow reserve derived from coronary computed tomography angiography in ischemia-causing coronary stenosis: a meta-analysis

Purpose

Fractional flow reserve based on coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA; FFR_CT) can evaluate functional severity in coronary artery disease (CAD). This study investigated the diagnostic value of FFR_CT for determining CAD severity.

Materials and methods

Medline, Cochrane, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases were searched until June 16, 2016 using the following search terms: fractional flow reserve, coronary computed tomography angiography, myocardial ischemia. Randomized controlled trials, two-arm prospective studies, and retrospective studies were included in the analysis.

Results

Twenty-one studies were included with a total of 2216 subjects and 2798 vessels. FFR_CT, sensitivity per-vessel and per-patient were ≥82% and specificity was ≥73% for diagnosis of ischemia. FFR_CT had better diagnostic accuracy and discrimination than CCTA.

Conclusion

This study indicates that FFR_CT may be a good tool for screening and diagnosing of myocardial ischemia in patients with CAD.