Correlation Between Intravascular Ultrasound Minimum Luminal Area and Quantitative Minimum Luminal Area in Intermediate Coronary Lesions

BACKGROUND: Chronic coronary syndrome (CCS) is a common disease worldwide. Advances in technology, including quantitative coronary angiography, have improved CCS management. In the present study, we aim to investigate the correlation and agreement between intravascular ultrasound minimum luminal area (IVUSMLA) and quantitative minimum luminal area (QMLA) in CCS patients with intermediate coronary lesions. METHODS: Data from CCS patients with at least one-vessel coronary occlusion from March 2022 to March 2023 were collected. Gathered data included patients' age, gender, QMLA, IVUSMLA, and patients' previous medical history, including hypertension, diabetes, and smoking. The target lesion in this study was intermediate (50% to 70%) stenosis. Agreement between IVUSMLA and QMLA was assessed using the Bland-Altman plot. A p-value (p) of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. R version 4.4.1 software (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria) was used for data analysis. RESULTS: This study included 52 (59.1%) men and 36 (40.9%) women with a mean age of 67.15 ± 10.63 and 64 ± 12.61 (p = 0.533), respectively. The mean for IVUSMLA and QMLA was 2.80 ± 1.54 and 2.6 ± 1.57, respectively. QMLA was highly correlated with IVUSMLA (r = 0.997; p <0.001). Both QMLA and IVUSMLA had moderately good agreement, presenting with small mean difference values but large values of root mean squared deviation (IVUSMLA - QMLA = 0.13 ± 0.11). CONCLUSION: IVUSMLA and QMLA are highly correlated to each other and have good agreement. So, QMLA can be used instead of IVUSMLA in intermediate coronary lesions.