OCT utilization: Summary statistics from the LightLab clinical initiative

Objectives: The study describes the evolution of optical coherence tomography (OCT) adoption and performance during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) following implementation of a standardized LightLab (LL) workflow.

Background: The purpose of the LL Clinical Initiative was to evaluate the impact of a standardized workflow on physician efficiency, decision making, and image quality.

Methods: The LL Clinical Initiative is a multicenter, prospective, observational clinical program. Data were collected from 48 physicians at 17 U.S. centers from 01/21/19 to 06/08/21. The study included 401 OCT-guided PCIs during the baseline phase and 1898 during the LL workflow phases. The baseline phase consisted of physicians utilizing OCT at their discretion. After completing the baseline phase, the workflow progressed through multiple phases culminating in the expansion phase, which focused on addressing greater procedural complexity. The LL workflow utilized OCT to assess plaque Morphology, lesion Length, and vessel Diameter before PCI, and optimized results by treating Medial edge dissection, stent mal-Apposition, and stent under-eXpansion (MLD MAX). High-level summary statistics were generated to elucidate trends.

Results: After program implementation, there was a rise in the number of PCIs where the LL workflow was utilized compared to the baseline phase (68% during the expansion phase vs. 41% at baseline; p for trend <0.0001). Adoption of the LL workflow was associated with progressively greater procedural and lesion complexity when OCT was performed pre- and post-PCI (87% vs. 52%, p < 0.0001; 55% vs. 37%, p < 0.0001, respectively). In addition, the quality of OCT imaging obtained improved after LL workflow introduction, with over 95% of pre- and post-PCI pullback quality considered usable during the expansion phase. Finally, there was a reduction in time spent on OCT interpretation, both pre-PCI (4.6 min vs. 7.5 min, p < 0.0001) and post-PCI (2.9 min vs. 5.3 min, p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: After completion of the standardized OCT-guided workflow, there was greater uptake of OCT imaging, incorporation in more complex procedures, procedural efficiency, and image quality.