Coronary flow reserve evaluated by phase-contrast cine cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging of coronary sinus: a meta-analysis

Abstract Background Phase-contrast cine cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) of the coronary sinus has emerged as a non-invasive method for measuring coronary sinus blood flow and coronary flow reserve (CFR). However, its clinical utility has not yet been established. Here we performed a meta-analysis to clarify the clinical value of CMR-derived CFR in various cardiovascular diseases. Methods An electronic database search was performed of PubMed, Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane Advanced Search, and EMBASE. We compared the CMR-derived CFR of various cardiovascular diseases (stable coronary artery disease [CAD], hypertrophic cardiomyopathy [HCM], dilated cardiomyopathy [DCM]) and control subjects. We assessed the prognostic value of CMR-derived CFR for predicting major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in patients with stable CAD. Results A total of 47 eligible studies were identified. The pooled CFR from our meta-analysis was 3.48 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.98–3.98) in control subjects, 2.50 (95% CI, 2.38–2.61) in stable CAD, 2.01 (95% CI, 1.70–2.32) in cardiomyopathies (HCM and DCM). The meta-analysis showed that CFR was significantly reduced in stable CAD (mean difference [MD] = −1.48; 95% CI, −1.78 to −1.17; p