Transthoracic coronary Doppler vibrometry in the evaluation of normal volunteers and patients with coronary artery stenosis

Abstract

Coronary artery vibrometry is a new transthoracic Doppler ultrasound method for the detection of coronary artery stenosis. It detects audio-frequency vibrations generated by coronary artery luminal diameter reduction. We studied 31 patients with known or suspected stenosis using coronary artery vibrometry and quantitative coronary angiography and 83 normal volunteers. A tissue vibration difference index (TVDI) was calculated from the left anterior descending, circumflex, left main and right coronary arteries. Accuracy for coronary artery stenosis detection using TVDI was assessed. Sensitivity for detecting coronary stenosis equal or greater than 25% diameter reduction was 89% in the left anterior descending coronary artery (16/18, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 64%-98%), 87% in the right coronary artery (13/15, 95% CI = 58%-98%), 83% in the circumflex coronary artery (5/6, 95% CI = 36%-99%) and 100% in the left main artery (3/3, 95% CI = 31%-100%). The median TVDI increased with severity of stenosis, suggesting that this measure might be used to track progression/regression of coronary artery stenosis.