Diagnostic performance of cardiac imaging methods to diagnose ischaemia-causing coronary artery disease when directly compared with fractional flow reserve as a reference standard: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Aims

The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic performance of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), stress echocardiography (SE), invasive coronary angiography (ICA), coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), fractional flow reserve (FFR) derived from CCTA (FFR _CT), and cardiac magnetic resonance (MRI) imaging when directly compared with an FFR reference standard.

Method and results

PubMed and Web of Knowledge were searched for investigations published between 1 January 2002 and 28 February 2015. Studies performing FFR in at least 75% of coronary vessels for the diagnosis of ischaemic coronary artery disease (CAD) were included. Twenty-three articles reporting on 3788 patients and 5323 vessels were identified. Meta-analysis was performed for pooled sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios (LR), diagnostic odds ratio, and summary receiver operating characteristic curves. In contrast to ICA, CCTA, and FFR _CT reports, studies evaluating SPECT, SE, and MRI were largely retrospective, single-centre and with generally smaller study samples. On a per-patient basis, the sensitivity of CCTA (90%, 95% CI: 86–93), FFR _CT (90%, 95% CI: 85–93), and MRI (90%, 95% CI: 75–97) were higher than for SPECT (70%, 95% CI: 59–80), SE (77%, 95% CI: 61–88), and ICA (69%, 95% CI: 65–75). The highest and lowest per-patient specificity was observed for MRI (94%, 95% CI: 79–99) and for CCTA (39%, 95% CI: 34–44), respectively. Similar specificities were noted for SPECT (78%, 95% CI: 68–87), SE (75%, 95% CI: 63–85), FFR _CT (71%, 95% CI: 65–75%), and ICA (67%, 95% CI: 63–71). On a per-vessel basis, the highest sensitivity was for CCTA (pooled sensitivity, 91%: 88–93), MRI (91%: 84–95), and FFR _CT (83%, 78–87), with lower sensitivities for ICA (71%, 69–74), and SPECT (57%: 49–64). Per-vessel specificity was highest for MRI (85%, 79–89), FFR _CT (78%: 78–81), and SPECT (75%: 69–80), whereas ICA (66%: 64–68) and CCTA (58%: 55–61) yielded a lower specificity.

Conclusions

In this meta-analysis comparing cardiac imaging methods directly to FFR, MRI had the highest performance for diagnosis of ischaemia-causing CAD, with lower performance for SPECT and SE. Anatomic methods of CCTA and ICA yielded lower specificity, with functional assessment of coronary atherosclerosis by SE, SPECT, and FFR _CT improving accuracy.