Sensitivity of Coronary Flow Reserve to Cardiovascular Parameters: A Computational Model-Based Study

摘要

Coronary flow reserve (CFR), as an index for assessing the functional severity of coronary artery stenosis, has gained wide clinical applications. However, it still remains unclear how and to what extent CFR is affected by various cardiovascular parameters that may differ among patients and vary in their responses to pharmacologic stimulation during CFR measurement. In this study, we performed a series of numerical experiments using a computational model of the coronary circulation to quantitatively investigate the impacts of the variations in various cardiovascular parameters on CFR. Obtained results revealed that CFR was highly sensitive to the vasodilation function of coronary microvasculature under the hyperemic conditions, and moderately affected by ventricular contractility, heart rate (HR) as well as the total systemic vascular resistance. Furthermore, the sensitivities of CFR to microvascular dilatation function and heart rate were found to be dependent on the severity of coronary stenosis. These findings may contribute as theoretical references for guiding the clinical application of CFR.