Impact of coronary revascularization on clinical outcomes in vessels with discordant results of fractional flow reserve and resting full-cycle ratio

Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is an invasive standard, and resting full-cycle ratio (RFR), a non-hyperemic pressure ratio, is an alternative to FFR for evaluating the functional severity of coronary stenosis. However, the prognostic impact of coronary revascularization in vessels with discordant results of FFR and non-hyperemic pressure ratios remains unclear. This single-center study included 212 vessels in 191 patients with intermediate coronary stenosis and discordant results of FFR and RFR. FFR ≤ 0.80 and RFR ≤ 0.89 were considered physiologically positive. Vessels with discordant results of FFR and RFR were divided into two groups according to the revascularization strategies-the deferral and revascularization groups. The primary endpoint was target vessel failure (TVF), a composite of cardiac death and target vessel myocardial infarction and unplanned revascularization. Of the 212 vessels, 145 (68.4%) and 67 (31.6%) were categorized as the deferral and revascularization groups, respectively. The deferral group was more likely to be older and women than the revascularization group. FFR values were higher, and the rate of positive FFR was lower in the deferral group than in the revascularization group. During the median follow-up of 406 days, 12 of 212 (5.7%) developed TVF. The Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that the TVF rate was significantly lower in the revascularization group than the counterpart (7.6% vs. 1.5% at 3 years, P = 0.046). In conclusion, coronary revascularization in vessels with discordant results of FFR and RFR was associated with lower TVF rates as compared with the deferral strategy.