Coronary Arterial Pressure Evaluation

The diagnosis of epicardial coronary artery disease (CAD) during left heart catheterization is made through the angiographic interpretation of percent narrowing of the arterial lumen. The severe stenotic lesions typically have an appearance of at least 70 percent diameter reduction. However, there is often inter-observer variability in the assessment of intermediate lesions (40% to 70% stenosis). These lesions may have functional impairment of flow distally to cause myocardial ischemia and eventually left ventricular contractile dysfunction. The physiologic assessment of such lesions is paramount in the cardiac catheterization lab.