Peripheral vascular endothelial function testing as a noninvasive indicator of coronary artery disease

OBJECTIVES We studied whether assessment of endothelium-dependent vasomotion (EDV) with brachial artery ultrasound (BAUS) imaging predicts the presence or absence of coronary artery disease (CAD) as defined by exercise myocardial perfusion imaging (ExMPI). BACKGROUND Abnormalities in EDV can be detected in arteries before the development of overt atherosclerosis, and its presence may predict poor long-term prognosis. Brachial artery ultrasound during reactive hyperemia is a noninvasive method of assessing peripheral EDV. METHODS Clinically-indicated ExMPI along with BAUS were performed in 94 subjects (43 women, 51 men). Coronary artery disease was defined by myocardial ischemia or infarction on single photon emission computed tomography images. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) after upper arm occlusion was defined as the percent change in arterial diameter during reactive hyperemia relative to the baseline. RESULTS Subjects with CAD by ExMPI (n = 23) had a lower FMD (6.3 ± 0.7%) than those without CAD by ExMPI (n = 71) (10.5 ± 0.6%; p = 0.0004). Flow-mediated dilation was highly predictive for CAD with an odds ratio of 1.32 for each percent decrease in FMD (p = 0.001). Based on a receiver-operator analysis, an FMD of 10% was used as a cut-point for further analysis. Twenty-one of 23 subjects who were positive for ExMPI had an FMD