Background: This study assessed the safety of intravenous adenosine infusion during fractional flow reserve (FFR) evaluation of intermediate coronary lesions in severe aortic stenosis (AS). In severe AS, the extent of underlying coronary artery disease (CAD) can be an important determinant for deciding between surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Hemodynamic assessment of coronary lesion severity using FFR may reduce the extent of revascularization needed and make TAVR more feasible in higher-risk patients (compared with coronary artery bypass surgery with SAVR).
Methods and results: We retrospectively analyzed the demographic, clinical, and hemodynamic parameters of 72 patients with severe AS who underwent FFR procedure with intravenous adenosine infusion for hemodynamic assessment of intermediate coronary artery lesions. Severe AS patients were elderly, predominantly male, and had a high prevalence of peripheral arterial disease, prior myocardial infarction, left ventricular hypertrophy, and chronic kidney disease. Mean aortic valve area in these patients was 0.71 ± 0.24 cm². No patient with severe AS required discontinuation of the adenosine and all patients tolerated the infusion well. We observed a statistically significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and heart rate (HR) during adenosine infusion compared with the baseline values. However, no clinically significant adverse events occurred.
Conclusion: In elderly patients with severe AS, adenosine infusion is safe and well tolerated during FFR evaluation of intermediate coronary lesions. There was a significantly greater drop in SBP, DBP, MAP, and HR with adenosine infusion as compared with baseline values. This, however, was not associated with clinically significant adverse events.