Measurements of Human Coronary Vascular Impedance

The aim of this study was to develop a method of measuring human coronary circulation impedance in a clinical setting. The authors measured coronary flow reserve (CFR) in 27 patients with chest pain and normal coronary arteries. A Judkins-style, 8F Doppler-tipped angiographic catheter was positioned in the left coronary ostium. Resting coronary flow velocity (RFV) and response to a hyperemic 12 mg intracoronary dose of papaverine (PFV) were measured. The signals were recorded by a recorder connected to a microprocessor with analogue-to-digital converter and a maths coprocessor. Using this the authors could obtain values for impedance at RFV (IR) and at PFV (IP). The CFR was defined as the ratio: PFV/RFV. An impedance index (II) was obtained as the ratio of coronary vascular impedance at peak hyperemia to the impedance at rest. The CFR was 3.2 +/- 1.2 and the II was 0.33 +/- 0.11. There was a strong inverse correlation between the CFR and the II (r = -0.9). The authors conclude that this new approach may allow a further insight into the coronary pathophysiology and may become useful in clinical cardiology, eg, in the assessment of heart transplant and Syndrome X patients.