Background: The assessment of patients with chest pain is an important step to make a diagnosis and clinical decision. Coronary flow reserve (CFR) can be used for the screening of significant coronary stenosis. However, the feasibility and limitation of CFR in those patients remains unknown.
Methods and results: A total of 100 patients with chest pain were examined. CFR was measured in all 3 major coronary arteries by using transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTDE). Coronary angiography was performed 1 to 3 days after TTDE. CFR in all 3 major coronary arteries could be measured in 83 (83%) of 100 patients. The echo-contrast agent was useful in 32 of 49 patients who had unclear color Doppler images. When CFR <2.0 was regarded as the cut-off point, the overall agreement rate between CFR and the results of coronary angiography was 83% (69 of the 83 patients). In addition, CFR could predict the presence of coronary artery disease satisfactorily (sensitivity 85%, specificity 81%, positive predictive value 89%, negative predictive value 93%).
Conclusions: TTDE seems to be a promising tool for screening patients with chest pain. Moreover, an echo-contrast agent seems to be an effective and supportive tool for patients who have poor visualization of coronary flow.