Intraoperative assessment of the physiologic significance of coronary stenosis in humans.

Coronary angiography is generally considered the gold standard in assessing the significance of coronary stenosis. The inadequacy of coronary angiography has frequently been demonstrated by intraoperative findings that differ from those projected by the catheterization report. To better assess the physiologic significance of coronary stenosis, we measured intramyocardial pH intraoperatively in 50 myocardial segments supplied by stenotic coronary arteries before and after revascularization in 42 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. The hemodynamic, electrocardiographic, and pH responses to atrial pacing were recorded intraoperatively before and after revascularization. The coronary angiograms, performed within 3 months before bypass grafting, were reviewed by a single independent observer. Preoperative and postoperative radionuclide ventriculograms were performed and also reviewed by an independent observer. In response to atrial pacing, a fall exceeding 0.02 pH units was considered to represent ischemia and was observed in 28 segments. Patients exhibiting this response comprised Group I. Twenty-two segments demonstrated a fall of less than 0.02 pH units or a rise in pH in response to atrial pacing. Patients having this response comprised Group II. Segments in Group I responded dramatically to revascularization, with the pH during atrial pacing rising from -0.09 +/- 0.01 to -0.02 +/- 0.01 (p less than 0.001). Nine patients demonstrated ischemic S-T changes during atrial pacing, all in Group I. Pre-pacing hemodynamic parameters were similar in both groups. Group I patients, however, demonstrated a significant fall in mean arterial pressure during atrial pacing, from 92.0 +/- 3.0 to 78.4 +/- 3.3 mm Hg (p less than 0.001) whereas Group II patients did not. Twelve segments that angiograms indicated were supplied by critically stenotic vessels (greater than 75%) failed to demonstrate a significant fall in their pH during atrial pacing. In these segments, intraoperative findings and postoperative results corroborated the metabolic findings. Coronary angiography, therefore, was only 45% specific in assessing physiologically significant obstructions. The degree of segmental wall motion abnormalities likewise correlated poorly with the pH changes. Unlike coronary angiography, the response of intramyocardial pH to pacing is an accurate metabolic tool to assess myocardial ischemia in humans.