C-8 | Outcomes of Fractional Flow Reserve Versus Intravascular Ultrasound During Percutaneous Intervention: A Meta-Analysis

While Fractional flow reserve (FFR) has been the traditional method in evaluating coronary artery stenosis, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) has emerged as an adjunctive technique during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We aimed to evaluate clinical outcomes of Fractional flow reserve (FFR) versus intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in patients undergoing PCI. We searched several databases for studies comparing FFR versus IVUS in patients undergoing PCI, including those with multivessel coronary artery disease and acute myocardial infarction. We used a common-effect model to calculate risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals in R studio. Outcomes assessed were all-cause mortality and target vessel revascularization. A total of 3 studies were identified consisting of 2013 patients of which 995 underwent FFR-guided PCI and 1018 underwent IVUS-guided PCI. There were no significant differences between FFR-guided PCI versus IVUS-guided PCI in all-cause mortality (RR 0.59; 95% CI 0.30 - 1.18) and target vessel revascularization (RR 1.48; 95% CI 0.90 - 2.44). In patients undergoing invasive coronary angiography, FFR-guided PCI is associated with similar outcomes of all-cause mortality and target vessel revascularization compared to IVUS-guided PCI. Further studies with large sample sizes are indicated to confirm our findings.