Cardiac allograft vasculopathy: coronary computed tomography and virtual histology assessment

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiac allograft vasculopathy remains the leading cause of late morbidity and mortality in heart transplantation. The main diagnostic methods, coronary angiography or intracoronary ultrasound (when angiography is normal), are invasive. Other study methods, such as coronary computed tomography (CT) and virtual histological analysis, have not been widely assessed in this condition.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the correlation between data obtained from analysis of virtual histology compared with those obtained from the performance of coronary CT in cardiac transplant recipients.

Materials and methods: During the same admission we performed coronary angiography and intravascular ultrasound with virtual histological analysis (automatic pull-back in anterior descending artery and one additional vessel if the former was normal) as well as coronary CT.

Results: The study included 10 patients. Virtual histology was done in segments with intimal thickening>0.5 mm, defining 2 groups of plaque, those with an inflammatory component (necrotic core>30% and calcium) versus those without it defined as the combination of both being <30%. A calcium component of the inflammatory plaque allowed coronary CT detection.

Conclusions: The detection of inflammatory plaque in graft vessel disease can be based on an initial noninvasive method, such as coronary CT, although confirmation requires further study.