AI Article Synopsis

  • Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is highlighted as a promising imaging technique for assessing early coronary allograft vasculopathy (CAV) in cardiac transplant patients.
  • In a study involving 15 patients, 8 were found to have intimal hyperplasia, indicating early vascular changes, while 7 had notable atherosclerotic plaques.
  • The results suggest OCT can effectively measure and characterize changes in the coronary artery walls post-transplant, although its long-term clinical implications are still under investigation.

Article Abstract

Background: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a novel intravascular imaging modality with excellent spatial resolution. This study explored the utility of OCT in cardiac transplantation for the detection and characterization of early changes associated with coronary allograft vasculopathy (CAV).

Methods: Fifteen consecutive patients, 1 to 4 years after transplant with no angiographic evidence of CAV, underwent successful OCT imaging using the Fourier-domain OCT system (C7-XR, St. Jude Medical, St. Paul, MN) in the left anterior descending artery. Analysis included measurements of the lumen, intima, and media layers, and characterization of atherosclerotic plaques. Patients were stratified by intima-to-media (I/M) ratio and classified as normal (≤1) or abnormal (>1).

Results: Patients were a mean of 2.8 years after transplant, 58 years old, and 92% were men. OCT imaging revealed 8 of 15 patients had intimal hyperplasia with an I/M ratio >1. Comparing those with I/M ratio of ≤1 and >1, the median (interquartile range) intimal thickness was greater (75 [70-101] vs 206 [97-269]μm, p = 0.03), whereas the media thickness was no different (72 [70-103] vs 94 [73-113]μm, p = 0.53). In addition, 7 of 15 patients had lipid-rich or calcified atherosclerotic plaques.

Conclusions: OCT provides high-resolution quantitative imaging of the coronary arteries and its use allows for detailed assessment of the coronary artery wall and early morphologic changes that occur after cardiac transplantation. The clinical predictive value of these OCT-derived measurements remains to be determined.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healun.2013.02.005DOI Listing

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