Coronary pressure flow (P/F) relationship has been investigated mainly from the viewpoint of coronary resistance. However, recent experimental evidence suggests that the zero flow pressure intercept (Pzf) provides important characteristics of coronary circulation. Although Pzf is likely to provide meaningful information about characteristics of coronary circulation, no data are available about Pzf in humans. The authors attempted to determine Pzf in humans by analyzing P/F relationship during long cardiac pause. This relationship, provoked by intracoronary adenosine triphosphate (ATP) infusion, was analyzed in 9 patients (8 men, 1 woman) with coronary heart disease (ages: fifty-six +/- six years). After the diagnostic cardiac catheterization, ATP, 0.6 mg/3 mL, was administrated by bolus intracoronary injection during measurements of coronary blood flow velocity. Coronary blood flow velocity in the left anterior descending artery was measured with a 0.018-inch Doppler angioplasty guide wire (FloWire, Cariometrics, Inc., Mountain View, Calif.). The dynamic P/F relationship was obtained by correlation of the instantaneous aortic pressure and flow velocity with each other at constant intervals. The least square linear regression analysis was applied to the P/F data to yield the extrapolated Pzf axis. Immediately after intracoronary injection of ATP, long pause (5320 +/- 1498 msec) appeared and coronary blood flow velocity decreased to 11 +/- 8 cm/sec. Pzf calculated with P/F relationship was 14 +/- 7 mmHg.
Conclusions: Thus, the results clearly demonstrate that Pzf is higher than right atrial and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure in humans, indicating the complexity of the determinants of the Pzf.