ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The turbulence of blood flow caused by stenosis has an impact on the surrounding coronary artery tissue and creates an audio-frequency vibration to the adjacent myocardial wall. We investigated the diagnostic feasibility of a novel diagnostic method using wide range gate (WRG) ultrasound data acquisition for diagnosing coronary artery disease (CAD). WRG data acquisition detects high-frequency vibrations from coronary artery stenosis, using pulse-wave Doppler ultrasound. METHODS: We used a Verasonics ultrasound data acquisition system to implement the WRG data acquisition. Investigators performed clinical trials for 80 subjects, with suspected CAD. All enrolled patients participated in WRG data acquisition before coronary angiography (CAG). RESULTS: As compared with the results of CAG, the sensitivity and specificity of the WRG data analysis were 80% and 84%, respectively. The WRG data analysis showed that the sensitivity and specificity were 81% and 79% in the left anterior descending artery, respectively, 75% and 89% in the left circumflex artery, respectively, and 85% and 82% in the right coronary artery, respectively. In a multivariate analysis, a positive vibrometry result was an independent predictive factor for CAD. CONCLUSIONS: We proposed a new diagnostic method for detecting CAD using ultrasound. The new data acquisition method showed good potential as an initial diagnostic tool for CAD.
