REVIEW   

Panminerva Medica 2021 December;63(4):519-28

DOI: 10.23736/S0031-0808.21.04363-9

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Physiological assessment after percutaneous coronary intervention: the hard truth

Giuseppe ZIMBARDO ¹, Pio CIALDELLA ¹, Federico DI GIUSTO ², Stefano MIGLIARO ², Gianluca ANASTASIA ², Edoardo PETROLATI ², Domenico GALANTE ², Domenico D’AMARIO ², Antonio Maria LEONE ² ✉

¹ Ospedale Policlinico Casilino, Rome, Italy; ² Dipartimento di Scienze Cardiovascolari, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy

Physiologically guided revascularization, using fractional flow reserve (FFR) or instantaneous wave free ratio (iFR) has been demonstrated to be associated with better long-term outcomes compared to an angiographically-guided strategy, mainly avoiding inappropriate coronary stenting and its associated adverse events. On the contrary, the role of invasive physiological assessment after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is much less well established. However, a large body of evidence suggests that a relevant proportion of patients undergoing PCI with a satisfying angiographic result show instead a suboptimal functional product with a potentially negative prognostic impact. For this reason, many efforts have been focused to identify interventional strategies to physiologically optimize PCI. Measuring the functional result after as PCI, especially when performed after a physiological assessment, implies that the operator is ready to accept the hard truth of an unsatisfactory physiological result despite angiographically optimal and, consequently, to optimize the product with some additional effort. The aim of this review was to bridge this gap in knowledge by better defining the paradigm shift of invasive physiological assessment, from a simple tool for deciding whether an epicardial stenosis must be treated, to a thoroughly physiological approach to PCI with the suggestion of a practical flow chart.

KEY WORDS: Percutaneous coronary intervention; Fractional flow reserve, myocardial; Angiography