ASSESSMENT OF CORONARY-ARTERY PATENCY WITH CINE COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY IN A DOG-MODEL OF OCCLUSION-REPERFUSION

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES. Determination of coronary artery patency may have therapeutic and prognostic significance particularly in the sett ing of acute myocardial infarction. Previous studies with cine compute d tomography have demonstrated remarkable accuracy in the determinatio n of coronary artery bypass graft patency. Recent improvements in reso lution capability have afforded the potential for determination of nat ive coronary artery patency. The accuracy of coronary artery patency d etermined by cine computed tomography is investigated in an animal mod el of coronary occlusion-reperfusion. METHODS. Seven anesthetized dogs were studied during control, coronary occlusion, and reperfusion cond itions. Cine computed tomography was performed using electrocardiogram -triggered serial scans after intravenous injection of contrast medium . Coronary patency was determined by dye appearance in the epicardial artery coincident with its appearance in the left ventricular cavity. RESULTS. Patency was determined for the left anterior descending and l eft coronary arteries during three separate conditions in each dog, fo r a total of 42 patency determinations, and yielded the correct result in all cases. CONCLUSION. High-resolution cine computed tomography sc anning can provide accurate determinations of coronary artery patency in an experimental model of occlusion-reperfusion.